Rapid
by Cahaya Sidur
Summary: Shira Lopez has seen many things in her life...known more things than was good for her, and she knew what was going to be involved when co-operating with Dæemon-Hunters and a Witch. But when things that can't be explained start happening, she wonders: Does she really? Sequel to Hopeless.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: So...finally decided to start this...hope anyone who still reads enjoys!**

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Prologue:

"My lord," the doppleganger bowed respectfully. Someone, hidden in the shadows, turned and regarded the doppleganger with displeasure.

"I am not pleased with you."

The doppleganger visibly swallowed. "There were some difficulties, master. We didn't…we hadn't anticipated the ability of the Witch. He is underestimated by everyone in the realm. He found out our plans within a day of them working."

The shadows growled, looming threateningly over the man. "And you expect me to find that as an excuse not to kill you?!"

Once again, the doppleganger spoke, trying to buy itself some time. "Master, we need your help in this. If you want what you seek from the boy, we may need your help extracting it."

A sigh. "I will not go! I will not go in this _hideous_ form. I need _time_! Time which you cannot GIVE ME!" The doppleganger backed away.

"Master?"

The shows quietened, before a figure stepped out. The shadows backed away more. "Use it well. He will promise you victory, that is for certain."

"A _human_ mortal will help _us_? Surely we would have more success getting another changeling or maybe a Witch."

A growl. "No Witch would ally themselves with us, or oppose the boy. Hags will be of no use to us either." The doppleganger could practically hear the next smirk. "And this is no ordinary human mortal, doppleganger, as you will soon learn."

The figure straightened up.

"Don't disappoint me." The shadows spoke to the figure, who nodded, bowed, and turned to the doppleganger, who examined the figure carefully, before bowing to the shadows.

"We will take our leave now, master." The doppleganger bowed respectfully.

"Good." The shadows turned as well to leave the small area. The White family will pay for all of their foolishness, for all of their arrogance. They will pay for humiliating me!"

* * *

A lady with her golden hair tied up in a tight bun stared at the laptop, eyes furrowed, deeply concerned. Something was wrong.

She remembered the doppleganger that had tried to impersonate her brother and had killed one of his soccer teammates. There was something up with him, but she didn't know what. Without hesitation, she picked up the phone.

"Hello? This is Diana Bennett. I need to speak with my father."

* * *

Meanwhile, a teenager awoke on his bed, green eyes glowing in the dark like a cat's as he peered around the darkness, before giving up on sleep, and leaning back on the headboard of his bed, closing his eyes and trying to keep his breathing under control.

Something big was coming, and he needed to be ready for it.


	2. vinning

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: Thanks to englishtiger and Bombina for reviewing...hope you like this chapter!**

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Chapter 1:

Shira unconsciously inhaled her boyfriend's fresh smell as she leaned in and pecked his cheek. "Hey." Diego turned, smiling.

"Hey yourself."

Shira sat down in the music classroom, watching as the class filled up slowly, all students coming from break. She turned to Diego again, and noticed slightly dark eye rings underneath his bright green eyes. "Not sleeping well?"

Diego sighed. "Not since…Zeke…you know."

Shira understood. Zeke had been a close friend of Diego, being a soccer teammate of Diego's back when he was in Half-Peak Boarding School. After he had transferred to Valley Academy, he had tried to get used to life at Valley, but Shira knew that it was hard.

"Wonder what're we doing this year for music."

They found out soon enough. Mrs. Mitford came into the room, beaming. "Well, well." She smiled at Diego for a moment, before turning to the rest of the class. "Like last year, you shall be doing a project…but individually." Groans were heard around the room.

"Each of you will do a project on a music composer individually - not modern ones, mind, of your choice. However, you have to be quick to claim the musician, before any others pick it. Those with more famous musicians will have to do more in order to get more credit, so I will be personally choosing the students who will be doing Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, and Tartini, since we did him last year, depending on their results from last year."

More collective groans.

Shira knew that it meant that Mrs. Mitford would be choosing those she thought were the most advanced in music.

"Right." Mrs. Mitford said. "Bach - Shira Lopez." Shira sighed, but nodded anyway. "Ellie Brown - Mozart." Ellie nodded, smiling. "Raz Indiate - Chopin." A small groan, but also a nod. "Sid Melan - Tartini." Sid nodded enthusiastically. "And…Beethoven - Diego White."

Diego sighed, but nodded, following what Shira had done.

"Now, that's it, and if you want a musician, you will have to come up and tell me, starting from…now." Immediately, students swarmed around her, shouting out names as Mrs. Mitford wrote down their names and musicians, before shouting out the name was going to be used.

When that was done, Mrs. Mitford clapped her hands and told the class what they were going to do, except for the ones she had picked. "For the whole year, you will research your musician, and make a presentation for 5 minutes about the musician. You will use a piece of music from the musician, and then learn it on an instrument, before remaking it into a more modern version - Caribbean, pop, rock, jazz…anything you want to do.

"After that, you must also compose your own piece of music based on another piece of music. Is that clear?" With that, all the students nodded and turned to their own music.

The few chosen gathered round as Mrs. Mitford continued speaking to them. "Now, as I said before, you have to do a presentation that lasts 10 minutes about the musician and his music. You will use 3 pieces of music from the musician, and then revert it into 3 different genres.

"After that, you will compose 2 pieces of music based on the musician. After that, you will have to mix or mash up your own music with the modern versions, and then the original pieces that they were based on, and then all of them altogether. Good?"

Groans were her answer.

Shira felt an oncoming headache. No way she could do this in time…right? She looked at Diego. He would have much better luck that she would.

She sighed, and then took out her laptop, sitting next to Diego as they started researching, before heading outside.

Her headache only increased as she saw the Sophomores of Half-Peak visiting the this year's Sophomores of Valley. This would end _really_ badly.


	3. i shpejtë

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: Short chapter...and Chapter 3's also gonna be short...but the rest will be longer, I promise! THANKS SO MUCH to those who reviewed (and englishtiger)!**

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Chapter 2:

Shira yawned from where she was lying on her bed. She looked at the time. 10: 00 pm. She looked at her phone, and debated whether she should call Diego. She had stayed up late to try and get a head start in the massive project Ms. Mitford had assigned them.

Maybe not.

She didn't know if he was awake or not (he would be), and, to be honest, Shira was not sure what to talk to him about. She just wanted to talk to him, knowing that she would feel better after hearing Diego's dry wit, and having them banter for a long time.

A flash of movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She frowned, and leaned out of the window. The cool air hit her face in a refreshing way, but she squinted her eyes against the dimly lit street, ignoring the reinvigorating feeling and scent of the graveyard.

Who was that?

A figure, tall, dark, lean and walking like he owned the place, passed her house, and then moved on, before stopping outside of Diego's house. Shira immediately grabbed onto her phone, watching carefully. She got her jacket, ready to move at moment's notice. She stood beside the window, not even looking at her phone as she got ready to dial her boyfriend.

When they knocked on the door, Shira immediately dialled Diego's number. "Diego?"

"Yes?" Diego's voice was alert. She was right then. He was awake. And most likely had also heard the knock.

"I can see a guy walking to your door. Careful-"

The sound of a doorbell rang through the phone. Shira froze. She heard Diego moving cautiously, before he sighed. "Listen, Shir, I gotta call you back."

There was a knock from his side, muffled. Shira's worry ratcheted several notches upwards upon hearing Diego's weary tone.

"Di? What's going on?"

"Don't worry." Diego was quick to reassure her, though he seemed distracted for some reason. "I'll try and tell you tomorrow."

"Try?!" Shira demanded, but Diego had already uttered a quick bye and hung up.

Shira glared at her phone for the rest of the night.

* * *

Diego growled as he finally slammed his bedroom door shut. God, he couldn't deal with this. How dare he, just showing up in the middle of nowhere when his life finally seemed to be coming together. He had hoped for a quiet year, but now he could see that it was futile. The doppelganger from last year still gave him nightmares when he remembered Zeke's body just lying there.

He groaned as he threw himself on the bed, looking at his phone on his bedside table. He picked it up and stared at it, half-hoping that Shira would either call or text, but he _had_ told her that he would tell her tomorrow. He pulled his knees to his chest, staring into the darkness, contemplating what his father had just told him.

Diana had contacted him. That in itself was not rare. They talked sometimes. Diego avoided any sort of contact or relation with his father if he could. His father did nothing to bridge that gap, blaming him for the damn fire and the damn murderer that came that perfect afternoon, when everyone else was so conveniently gone.

He could still remember the smell of smoke wafting to his room, could remember waking up as if he was doused in cold water. Could remember freezing up, the Witch in him completely petrified. Could remember that it was only his magic coursing through him that forced him to numbly get to the door and out the house, his feet bare but not getting burnt by the heated pieces of wood falling around him.

He could remember that it was only when he was outside did he register that a neighbour was shaking him, talking in his face, with sirens going on all around them. Could remember stammering as he didn't know how to answer, only repeating Diana's number over and over again until his sister finally appeared less than a few hours later, hugging him tightly and crying into his soot-streaked hair.

He hadn't cried. He still wasn't sure what had happened.

Anyway, back at hand. Right. The doppelganger had been _sent _by someone. Someone had killed Zeke and tried to frame him without getting their hands dirty. It made Diego absolutely furious, feeling his magic bubbling up in response to his own anger. He inhaled deeply. It was no good launching his magic at the poor wall in front of him. No matter how tempting scaring his father was.

Now, not only did he have to worry about his father (who was thankfully leaving the next evening), he had to worry about the damn person that had sent that doppelganger. He crossed his legs as he turned the light off, staring into the darkness.

Diego knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep that night.

* * *

The next day, Shira got up early, and immediately went to stand outside of Diego's door, half-scaring him to death when he finally opened the door to go to school, eyes wide with shock. "Shira! Don't do that again!"

Shira crossed her arms. "And who was that?"

Diego opened his mouth to reply, but there was suddenly chatter from down the road. As they turned to look, they saw a crowd with cameras and lighting and everything, with a man in the middle, signing autographs with a professional calm look, answering questions. Diego huffed, looking exceptionally annoyed.

"Wait." Shira recognised him, and her heart skipped a beat. "Is that…Is that _Ian Bennett_? The owner and founder of RC?"

Diego sighed. "Yes." He seemed to be mentally bracing himself for something, but before he could say anything, the rest of the 'herd' joined them, chatting away eagerly, and steering them towards the school, all the while grinning broadly and talking about Ian Bennett.

By the time Shira turned back to look at Diego, he was already talking surprisingly animatedly with Manny (Shira knew that he was trying to avoid talking with her), and she was forced to put it out of her mind.


	4. سريع

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: Another chapter...because I feel like it...hope you like!**

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Chapter 3:

Shira frowned at her homework. She couldn't _CONCENTRATE_! She stared at her laptop blankly, the page already opened at Bach's Wikipedia page, but she couldn't absorb any of the information. She would have to try later.

As she closed her computer, her phone rang.

She glanced at it. Unknown number.

Hang up.

She flopped down on her bed, before her phone rang again.

She looked at the number.

Unknown number again.

Hang up.

A second had barely passed before her phone rang again. She growled, and slammed the button forcefully. Answer.

"Hello?"

"Ah. Shira Lopez?" She was stunned at the smooth male's voice that answered her.

"Who are you?"

"My, my, she was right. You are blunt."

"Who are you?" Shira repeated, panic starting to cloud her thoughts. Without hesitation, she grabbed her jacket.

"You are a perfect match for my stepbrother." The voice continued on as if she hadn't said anything.

That stopped Shira short. "Sorry…_what_?"

"He is a tad bit blunt himself, you know. And a bit aggressive as well, but I'm sure you understand that." The voice was completely unaffected, and Shira was starting to get annoyed at the voice. She growled into the phone.

"Who the _Hell_ are you?"

The person on the other line tutted. "Be careful with your language. How _does_ he put up with you?"

"What?!" Shira demanded, beginning her descent down the stairs. She opened the door, starting to run to Diego's house. She had a pretty good idea who would know what was happening, and that person was currently in that house.

She banged on the door, stopping when she saw Diego open the door, eyes wide with shock. "Shira?"

"Ah, is that my half-brother?" The voice continued.

Shira frowned, but Diego must've recognised the look on her face, as he snatched the phone out of her hand. "Who's this?"

Unfortunately, Shira couldn't hear anything that was being said, but Diego's face tightened in anger, and he spat out a stream of unintelligible and rapid Spanish words at the phone, who replied in the same language.

With that, Diego hung up, handing the phone back to Shira.

"Who was that?" Shira asked, hands on her hips.

"No one." Diego replied. Maybe a bit too quickly.

"Diego."

"Shira." Diego replied to her glare.

Shira glared at Diego, but Diego only replied to her glare with his own bright green eyes, which had darkened. "Please."

Her expression softened slightly, but she still frowned. "Fine. But answer me one question, and I won't ask anything else."

A sigh. "Go ahead."

"Who was that on the phone and why did he say he was your…half-brother?"

Diego sighed, and looked around, before answering her in a low voice. "Shira…my family is…complicated." Shira nodded in understanding. One thing that Diego had confided in her was that his family situation had led to him being put into Half-Peak Boarding School while they sorted it out.

"And, my…dad…" He cringed. "Is not the most understanding or loyal of people…."

"So…" Shira was starting to understand. "He had an affair."

"Not just _an_ affair." Diego looked like he regretted what he was saying, but ploughed ahead anyway. "_Several_ affairs."

"Several?" Shira asked. "But…your parents are married?"

"They…split up." Diego muttered.

"But the man sounded…he sounded…" Shira didn't want to say it.

"Older?" Diego asked, eyebrow raised. "All of them are. I'm the youngest. Well. Until about six years ago."

Shira gaped at him. Complicated _was_ the way to describe his family situation. Parents who split up, a dad who had not one, but _several_ affairs with children before Diego was born, and now a family situation that was disastrous. "Then…what was the situation with Half-Peak?"

Diego frowned. "Only one question." He made to close the door, but his voice travelled out before the door fully closed. "A hint - it had something to do with me and my stepparents."

Shira noticed the way he said parent_s_, not just parent.

She shivered, suddenly feeling cold.

She looked up.

A storm was brewing.

* * *

Diego sat on his bed, glaring angrily at the wall. Why the hell was his damn family getting involved? And calling Shira of all people. How did they even get her number? He snatched his phone up, texting his sister furiously. He hated being a tattletale, but if his 'family' was going to start regularly calling Shira like this, he couldn't have Diana wondering why angry voicemails would be sent to his half-siblings' phones.

He clicked 'Send' before leaning back. Okay. He had been through more stressful situations. But he wasn't any closer to finding out who the hell sent that doppelganger, even after spending so long looking up any books on magical creatures and known magic-users that would have a grudge against him or Dillon. Or any Whites for that matter.

This was going nowhere. And he couldn't even tell Diana. He turned around, forcing himself to relax. He just needed a few hours of sleep. And then he'd come up with something.

He didn't notice his phone vibrate on the bedside table.

* * *

Diana frowned at the passive-aggressive text that Diego had sent her. What half-brother would be idiotic enough to call her younger brother's girlfriend? How did they even _get_ her number?

She quickly dialled a few numbers, frowning when said half-brother didn't answer his phone. She looked up a word document on her laptop, frowning in confusion. That was odd. He had soccer practice. She dialled his coach's number. After confirming that her half-brother was, indeed, at practice and had been for the last one and a half hours, she leaned back in her chair.

Who the hell called Shira then? She dialled Diego's number, but after several rings, was sent straight to voicemail.


	5. arrin

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: And here's the next chapter. Things will be _really_ random for the next two or so chapters, before they start to speed up. Hope you enjoy, and thanks to those who reviewed! (englishtiger, Bombina and Shiego627)**

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Chapter 4:

The week passed uneventfully. Whenever Shira tried to bring the topic up, Diego clammed up. Along with that, a new student had arrived in school.

He was cute, in that sort of sense that most girls at Valley found Diego (which would always result in fights between Shira and them that Diego himself had to break up). Diego was assigned to look after him, but he seemed bothered by it.

The boy, Derek, as he said so, immediately latched on to Diego, which the rest of the 'herd' found cute. (Of course, that was before Diego had threatened them)

But unlike Derek, Diego had a sort of repulsion with him. It wasn't disgust, no, but it was more of loathing…something that Shira remembered seeing in Manny.

When Derek had tried to talk to Diego, he was rebuked or completely ignored. Any questions were answered curtly. Diego avoided touching him, even, which made many of them uncomfortable since Derek and Diego had a hard time working together.

So…if Diego was to react like this, then the boy must come from their world…right?

Ellie contemplated this for a while, noticing the complete opposites of both. Derek was friendly and outgoing, also extroverted. Diego was friendly, yes, but he was more of the 'look-at-me-and-I'll-bite-your-face-of' kind of personality. Derek was studious and enjoyed music and education, while Diego enjoyed sports and was forced to do music.

He was a very neat boy, a gentleman, some might say. Of course, that would make him an instant target, but with Diego as his partner for the first few days, no one dared to approach him and Diego. Afterwards, he started becoming more popular, since he looked 'cute', and Diego was off-limits unless you wanted your face literally clawed off by Shira.

He gave off an aura that simply dared anyone to try and attack him and see what would happen. Diego only chose very specific close friends…the rest, not so much. He usually avoided any girls his age if he was with Shira, as he knew what would happen.

Ellie found herself shuddering as she remembered what had happened to the girl that had tried to flirt with Diego. Diego had to literally pull Shira off the girl, getting her home. Ellie had no idea how he managed to calm her down.

She remembered with a shudder what had happened with the girl during the Summer holidays, when Diego had come on one of his many trips.

The girl had been rather attractive, but Diego had completely ignored her, much to the annoyance of the girl, and the smug satisfaction of Shira.

As she thought this, she watched as Derek walked by, and smiled politely at her, before disappearing around the corner, but there was something suspicious about his movement.

Ellie quickly contemplated it, before she followed him around…only to find…_nothing_.

She looked around quickly, her instinct telling her that something was wrong.

And Ellie learned that when she felt an instinct, she should follow it.

* * *

Ellie quickly gathered the 'herd' in a small alcove, all looking puzzled at her desperation. Diego, thankfully, didn't bring Derek along, and seemed pleased for once.

"Ellie, are you ok?" Manny asked, worried.

"Look," she burst out immediately. "You might think I'm crazy, but I think there's something off with Derek."

Diego rolled his eyes. "Please don't tell me you only reached that conclusion."

Ellie frowned. "No. I'm serious. I mean something from…_our_ world."

This drew their attention. Shira exchanged a glance with Diego. "Isn't Derek human?"

Diego shook his head. "No. He's…something. I think he's a combination, since we can't tell. Or else, he's made of _pure_ energy, which means that he can use it to mask his presence completely so that it escapes our radar. I'm a Witch, a creature of the Underworld. If it is a creature from Above, then Shira and I can't sense it."

As usual, Ellie used the opportunity to find out more about the two. Dæmon-hunters usually had limited information about the creatures of the Night, as they were called. "Wait. What is the 'Above'? And why isn't Shira included as a creature of the Underworld?"

Shira sighed. "I'm a Medium, one that translates the language of the Spirits to any Humans or creature. Therefore, I'm considered in-between, which means that I usually remain neutral, or else I act as a translator or nothing at all. Diego is a creature of the Underworld, as you can see from the hags."

Diego continued for her. "The Above is where all the supposedly 'good' creatures are from - Elves, Fairies, Pixies, Gnomes, White Witches, Angels, everything that you can think off-"

"Wait. _Angels_?" Manny asked incredulously.

Shira nodded. "Yes."

Suddenly, Shira tackled Diego for no apparent reason, before an arrow shot out onto where Diego had been standing just a few milliseconds ago. Diego stared at it incredulously, before turning to the trees, which hid the grove from the rest of the school.

Only a bright pair of blue eyes met his before turning away.

"Who was that?" Ellie asked, wide-eyed in shock.

Diego scowled. "I know exactly who that was."

Ellie shot him a suspicious look. "Why did he want to kill you?"

Diego's face darkened. "None of your business."

With that, he left the grove, the rest staring in silence at the retreating back, understanding that they and crossed a path they were not supposed to.


	6. ràpid

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: And here's the next chapter...thanks to englishtiger and IceDynamiteDragonflyStars (AKA Bombina :P) for reviewing!**

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Chapter 5:

Diego stalked through the corridor, his gaze finally landing on Derek. The corridor was mostly empty, and Diego was relieved for that. Moving to where Derek was closing his locker, he growled. "Why did you launch the arrow?"

Derek turned, a malicious grin on his face.

Diego startled slightly. He had expected Derek to deny anything, but it seemed like that wasn't and wouldn't be the case.

"You know why, Diego." Derek smirked, before, with a sudden burst of energy and speed, slammed Diego by the throat into the lockers. Diego choked, trying to breathe in air, hands clawing at Derek's surprisingly tight grip. He leaned in, smirking.

Diego turned his head away, disgusted, but Derek whispered into his ear. "You, and your _whole_ family…shall pay."

Derek put out a finger, gently caressing Diego's cheek. Diego tried to back away in disgust.

"Get away from me, and stay the _Hell_ away from my family."

"I'll decide that, won't I?" Derek smirked, before walking off.

* * *

"So…what're you going to do now?" Shira asked, leaning on Diego's bed, looking at her boyfriend, who was sitting at the other end, staring blankly ahead of him.

"I don't know." Diego shrugged.

"You could always call the police."

Diego snorted. "And what? Tell them that the sweetest student at Valley is a malicious killer who will kill me family if I don't back off?"

"That's an option."

Diego rolled his eyes good-heartedly. He leaned back. "Deities above, what has my life come down to?"

Shira felt concerned. Diego seemed strangely down. "Have you talked to your crazy older sister?"

A grin found its way to Diego's lips. "Not really. I need to do that tonight though. Anything my dad has to do with, he will always tell my sister."

"Then why didn't she tell you?" Shira asked. When she received no answer, she turned to Diego, who was looking contemplative now.

"That's a good question." He said absent-mindedly.

"You think she doesn't know?"

"No." Diego said firmly. "The man that calls himself my father always tells Diana everything. If he doesn't...no." He shook his head, as if trying to convince himself. "He'll tell Diana. Diana will know."

"I'm sure she will." Shira reassured him. She got a tremulous smile in response. This was one of the few times when Diego seemed unsure of himself and his magic. She didn't like that - she was the one who was strong in the Mortal world. Diego was the strong one regarding the Other world, the one who told her what went on there, how things were done there. It registered almost unconsciously that Diego shouldn't have such a good knowledge about the Other world considering that he had never visited it and didn't seem like the kind to share with his older sister.

But before she could put this into words, the doorbell rang.

Both teenagers looked at one another. "Expecting anyone?" Shira asked. She had come over because Diego had told her he wasn't doing anything today. Had he forgotten? The doorbell rang again.

"No." He murmured, pushing himself off the bed. Diego moved to the window, his eyes widening. He turned back to Shira, and pulled her off the bed. "You have to go. _Now_."

"Why-?" Shira didn't get to answer, before the doorbell rang again, and a voice called out. "Diego!"

Shira narrowed her eyes. "Who's that?"

"No one." Diego smiled nervously, shoving her towards the door, and leading her down the stairs.

"You sure? Because that sounded a lot like Ian Bennett."

"Hello?!" The voice outside the door called again.

Diego swore under his breath, and turned, only for the door to open itself, and Ian Bennett looked at Diego and Shira. "Ah. Hello."


	7. rivende

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: Well, just found out how short last chapter was...next few chapters will be longer, PROMISE! :) thanks to IceAge Mutant and Shiego627 for reviewing! (P.S. Ian Bennett is a guy, though it is kind of revealed here)**

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Chapter 6:

"Get out." Diego snapped at the man. Shira looked, wide-eyed, at him.

Ian sighed. "I'm not allowed to visit my son?"

"Not when you did what you did!"

Ian sighed again. "It was for a good cause."

"It was a huge gamble to help _your_ company! What if I suddenly had an accident?! Who's gonna pay for that?!" Diego exploded. Shira looked at him in astonishment.

Ok…this was _not_ what she was expecting. Maybe some lousy dad who slept with people, but not _Ian_ Bennett…

"It is a small matter-"

"_It_ is my life and health insurance!"

"And?"

Diego crossed his arms. "I could go to press about this."

Ian snorted. "And risk this attention on yourself when you spent the last 16 years secluding and isolating yourself from the media? Unlike your other siblings-"

"_Step_siblings!" Diego hissed. "Now, GET _OUT_!"

Ian shook his head. "I'll come back when you are feeling more reasonable." He walked to the door.

Diego glared at him, walking to the door as well. "How about…_Never_." With that, he slammed the door shut in Ian's face, with him turning to face Shira. She raised an eyebrow.

"Ok. Ok." Diego raised both hands in surrender. "Yes, Ian Bennett is my dad. _No_, you can't tell anyone else, and _no_, just delete everything you just saw and heard."

"One question."

"Shoot." Diego sighed.

"Last name?"

"Officially Bennett-White, but just White normally. Mom's maiden name."

Shira huffed in disbelief. "Diego, you are related, the son, actually, of an _all famous_ record company CEO and owner, and you just…_blow_ this off?!"

"I have reasons." Diego muttered.

"Wait wait wait wait wait." Shira stopped. "Does he know about…you know?"

"Why do you think he hates me so much?" Was her only reply.

* * *

Shira lay in bed, pondering what had just happened. This was impossible. She groaned and turned over in bed. Her boyfriend was the son of _the_ most famous CEO and owner of an internationally successful record company.

She sighed.

Just another day in Paradise.

* * *

Three weeks passed, almost as normal, but whenever Shira tried to bring up the topic of Ian Bennett, Diego would shoot her a frosty look, and walk away from it. She didn't push any further, afraid that this would result in them falling out.

As Shira lay on her bed, thinking of how often she had been doing this, and that she should _really_ get to her project or Mrs. Mitford would kill her because she didn't get anything done so far despite her staying up late the last few nights only to be distracted, her phone rang.

Shira picked it up. Diego. "Hey."

"Shira, guess what?" Diego's voice was tight.

"Uh…you got a new house?"

"Seriously." Diego snarled into the phone. "I have a new stepbrother. And guess who it is. I'll give you a hint. It starts with D, ends with K, and rhymes with Merek."

Shira gaped. "Oh, sweet Death." She groaned. "You're _kidding_."

"Nope. And, what's more, father dear wants me to get to know him. Tomorrow night."

"Why am I feeling like this is like a clichéd movie? One where the guy gets an evil stepbrother, unknowing dad, and has to fight the stepbrother."

"Whoa. Who said anything about fighting?"

Shira shrugged, though knowing he couldn't see it. "Just predicting."

Diego sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow. Got to go out tonight." And hung up.

Shira stared at her phone a long time. Diego was being oddly distant from her, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. It was only before she was going to drift off did it register that she didn't ask whether or not Diego had talked to Diana.


	8. Rapidaj

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: Ok, the next two or three chapters will be really bumpy, but I didn't know how to do anything about them since the rest of the story starts with those happenings. Since this is pretty short, I'll be posting the next chapter up tomorrow. Thanks to englishtiger and IceDynamiteDragonflyStars for reviewing! **

* * *

Chapter 7:

As it turned out, Diego didn't get a chance to talk to Shira. The next day, Derek hogged all of Diego's spare time, so that the Witch didn't get an opportunity to even _look_ at Shira before Derek led him somewhere else.

Of course, with him being new, Diego couldn't complain about Derek.

Shira, using the contact of texts, agreed to not tell the rest of the 'Herd' until he could figure out something with Derek.

And this was trouble.

So when Manny invited her to join them tonight to eat dinner that night at some fancy restaurant, she accepted, not stopping to think clearly, distracted by the Diego-Derek-Stepbrothers matter.

But she forgot about the consequences.

So, when she arrived with the others, she stopped short, seeing Derek and Diego sitting at another table, Diego looking bored as he listened to his headphones, while Derek ordered something for himself.

_Shoot. _

She noticed Diego the same time he noticed her, and his eyes widened imperceptibly. When Derek turned to see what he was looking at, Diego quickly turned his attention back, spitting something out with such malice that Derek immediately responded, glaring back.

Shira noticed Manny wanted to choose a table near the windows, where the stepbrothers were sitting, so she quickly pointed out a table in the middle of the room.

Manny shrugged, and they all went and seated themselves, Shira positioning herself so that she was the only one with a clear view of Diego, who unfortunately was facing her as well.

Derek's back was turned to her, and Manny's back was turned on Derek.

Shira smiled at something Ellie said, before turning to glance at the window.

Ellie frowned slightly, and turned in the direction, but Diego quickly lifted a menu to cover his face. Ellie turned as Shira replied hastily, mentally heaving a sigh of relief.

That was close.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Derek stand up, mention something to Diego, and then turning and leaving in the direction of the bathrooms.

Of course, it was _just_ their luck that Sid stood up to go to the bathroom as well. Great.

She turned in the direction of Diego, to realise that he had noticed this as well, and looked around. Because of the positioning of the toilets, it was necessary for Sid to pass by Diego's table in order to get to the toilets.

Diego quickly turned to a waiter balancing several empty dishes on his tray, and tripped him with a barely noticeable gleam in his eye and a small tugging gesture. The waiter tripped, tipping the plates onto the table of a couple, who cried out in shock.

Sid continued his trip, only stopping for a small moment by a waiter.

And Diego used that to his advantage, tripping a waiter, almost by accident if Shira hadn't caught the telltale gleam in his eye, who spilled hot gravy on Sid.

Diego's eyes widened as he hastily stood up, and turned to leave the restaurant. Shira then played her role, crying out as Sid fell heavily, with the rest turning as well, standing up to try and help Sid.

At the moment, though, Derek walked out of the toilets, eyes widening nearly comically as he noticed Sid on the floor, and rushed over to help, taking a napkin and helping him wipe the gravy off, ignoring the waiter who was apologising furiously.

"Derek!" Ellie said, sounding delighted. "What are you doing here?"

Derek smiled back, looking at the empty table once and sighing. "Supposed to have dinner with my brother, who seemed to have abandoned me." He looked at his watch. "So sorry, but I have to go now. See where he is."

Ellie nodded, and Derek slipped out of the restaurant, with Shira heaving a small sigh of relief.

So far, so good.


	9. mabilis

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: As promised, the next chapter. Chapters will probably be more longer now...thanks to englishtiger (I agree!) for reviewing!**

* * *

Chapter 8:

The next day, the title was all over the news: _Valley_ _Principal Mysteriously Murdered._ As a last minute precaution, school was cancelled for the next few days as the police looked into this.

That was why Shira was headed over to Ellie's house, where she found Manny and Sid as well.

The doorbell rang the moment she took a seat, and Ellie stood up to get it. She opened it, revealing Diego, looking behind her, where the rest were sprawled around her living room.

"What're you doing?"

Shira frowned. "Relaxing on our day off of school?"

Diego rolled his eyes. "C'mon."

"Where're we going?" Manny asked from in front of the TV.

"Crime scene."

This took a few seconds to process. "_What_?!"

* * *

"I can't believe you got us to do this!" Manny hissed at Diego, who shushed him violently.

"The spell makes you invisible, not mute to everyone!"

Shira could practically sense Manny's eye-roll. Diego crept forward, dodging any policemen, making his way into the Principal's office, where the Principal, was, in fact, twisted across the top of his swivel chair, head facing the window, one arm twisted off.

"This is _disgusting._" Sid whispered.

"Shut up." Diego hissed back, before making his way over to the body, looking it over.

His eyes spotted something, and he picked it up.

"What's that?"

"Dark brown hair strand."

Ellie frowned. "But Principal Pine has silvery hair."

Diego smirked. "Exactly."

The strand was soaked with blood, having been on the Principal's shoulder with the amputated arm, and was about average length.

He carefully placed it on the desk, rolling his eyes as the police spotted it. "Amateurs."

"I'm guessing you do this sort of thing often?"

"Hm?" Diego asked, not really paying attention.

Manny huffed. "Sneak into crime scenes."

"Sneak into places? Yes. Crime scenes? Not so much. More of Diana's speciality."

He moved to the window, looking at the glass. Perfectly in place, and shining. Diego ran a hand across the glass, frowning as he noticed something. "Shira. Feel this."

Shira ran a hand over the glass as well, and frowned. "But isn't this-?"

"Derek's signal? Oh yes."

Ellie cut in. "Whoa. _Derek_?!"

"Weren't _you_ the one who suggested that he was conspiring against us?" Diego frowned.

"I know, but _killing_ the Principal?"

Diego looked up at Ellie forlornly. "Trust me, Ellie. There are a lot worse things in our world than humans can ever try to comprehend."

Manny sighed. "We should get out of here."

"No. Wait." Shira looked at a piece of paper stuck to the Principal's forehead.

Diego's blood froze at the note.

_This is just the beginning, brother dear. _

* * *

Diana scrolled through the document on her laptop, sighing. She _hated_ paperwork. Sure, she enjoyed her job, but it wasn't fun when it had to do with paper.

Her phone rang.

Turning to it, Diana frowned. Not a lot of people knew her personal number, and even fewer dared to call or had a reason to call at this time of night.

"Diana Bennett speaking."

"_Cut it out, Anna._"

"Di? What the _hell_ are you doing calling this late?"

"_Met our charming new stepbrother yet_?"

"No," Diana frowned, eyebrow crinkling. "I didn't know we had one."

"_No?_" Diego sounded as confused as her. "_Derek Pearton? Now officially Bennett-Pearton?_"

"No." Diana frowned, more alert now than her coffee ever made her. "Dad never told me anything like this."

"_Seriously_?"

"Yeah."

There was silence for a while. Diana's mind raced. Why wouldn't her father have told her? He told her everything. _Every single thing_.

"You think there's something he's not telling us?"

She could almost sense Diego's nod over the phone. "_Duh. He tells you _everything…"

"Ok. I'll look into it. I need a picture and some of his basic info."

"_Already sending it to you._" Silence again. "_Diana? I don't have a good feeling about him. Something's gonna happen. And soon._"

Diana tensed. She had learnt long ago that if Diego had a 'feeling' about something, it wasn't good. She had also learnt to listen and follow Diego's instructions should it have anything to do about it…not like Benito and-_no_. She mentally shook her head. She couldn't think about this.

"Got it. Anything else?"

"_I don't think he's human, but I can't place what he is._"

Diana frowned. "That's rare. When did he join the school again?" she asked as she opened the email, seeing the contact details and such on.

"_Not too long ago, about halfway through the semester_."

Halfway? Wasn't that when her dad went to visit her aunt?

"I'll look into it. I just wrapped up my case."

"_Diana? I'm scared._"

That frightened her slightly. The last time Diego had said that, it had proven to be true, as the chain of events started, that eventually led to the deaths of most of her family.

Diego was all she had left - her dad didn't count.

"Don't worry, Di. I'll find out who's doing this."

Diego nodded, and hesitated, before speaking. "_Oh, and our principal was murdered today. I found a - you know what, never mind._"

"No, tell me. If it's important, I need to know. What's this about your principal being murdered?"

Diego sighed. "_He was found dead this morning. And I found a note which I think was addressed to me. 'This is just the beginning, brother dear. What do you think that means?_"

"Well, obviously, Derek must've wrote it. None of our other half-siblings were anywhere near L.A. during that time. That means he has had to have planned something."

"_But with corny sentences like that?_"

Diana nodded. "Someone must be behind this. Someone that's directing Derek."

Diego sighed again, before speaking softly._ "Diana? Will I have to move again_?"

Diana couldn't bear that tone. So fragile and vulnerable. "I don't know, Diego. If the news gets out about this, you might need to move - and quickly. It won't take long for students to put what is happening together. Out of all of this, you're the only factor that has remained common. You were in Half-Peak, and then moved to Valley. It won't look good."

"_The vice-principal's been to see me today. He said that the school board was thinking about expelling me from school. Maybe suspension if I'm lucky._"

"They said _what_?" Diana growled into the phone. Dammit. She didn't need to worry about her brother's education above all of this. "I'll handle it. If someone's targeting you, we have to be careful." She sighed, and, suddenly, the paperwork seemed like a picnic in the park. "Be alert. Make sure your friends are close-by at all time. And _stay safe_."

A hint of a smile was in his tone, though worry coloured it. "_You as well, sis._"


	10. rápido

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: Thanks to IceAge Mutant, englishtiger and Guest for reviewing...sorry for how long it took to get this up, school's currently trying to kill me...**

* * *

Chapter 9:

Diego felt better after talking to his sister. Granted, they might have had their fights, but they were the only thing left of their mother's side of the family. On the contrary, their father's side held _a lot_ of additions.

He sighed, flopping down on his bed, before his gaze fell to his bookshelf. Few books were scattered on it. He looked around, with the only light source being the one from the lamp on the desk across his bed, and the darkness never felt so scary.

Even as a child, he knew of the power he wielded, and knew how to use it, even instinctively, to defend himself.

But murder was going a bit too far.

He walked over to his bookshelf, eyes and ears alert, and he picked up a book, heading back to his bed and flipping it open, turning the light on at the same time.

The book opened in the middle of a text.

'_…after which, White was never seen again. Many suspect that he might have practiced witchcraft, but the rumours were firmly quelled by his second-in-command, Brigadier General Alec._'

Diego shivered, suddenly looking around.

He sighed, leaning against his bed's backboard as he continued to read. He wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

* * *

Diana rubbed her eyes tiredly. She should sleep soon, before she collapsed because of exhaustion.

She closed the book she found shut.

Any information she found about Derek weren't useful in finding any mythological beings.

She turned, closing her laptop, before moving over to her bed.

A sound caught her attention, and she instantly became alert. It was a habit associated with the results of her profession.

She turned, hand out, as she reached under her pillow to draw a blade.

Nothing happened.

Turning around, she feigned to get onto the bed, before turning suddenly and stabbing a man in the stomach with the knife.

She cried out suddenly as a taser struck her from behind.

The last thing she was aware of was a cloth filled with chloroform getting forced over her mouth.

* * *

Diego sighed as school ended. Something had happened. He was not sure where, who, or how, but he knew it all the same. He looked up as the Vice-principal (now Principal) called to him, gesturing to his office.

Following, Diego entered the pristinely neat office (another one, the police were still going through the old one).

"What's wrong?"

The vice-principal looked at him regretfully. "I'm sorry, Diego, but the School Board has made a decision."

"Already?" Diego asked, frowning. He was sure that Diana would handle it. Any promises she made, she would keep. And with her circle of influence-

Cold fear gripped his heart.

_Did something happen to Diana_?

"You're being expelled. You are to leave campus and never return."

Diego swallowed, his mind on other things other than his expulsion. The vice-principal read his face wrongly, thinking that he was worried about being expelled.

"I informed your guardian, but she was not at work, and wouldn't answer her phone. I've left a message to your aunt, instead."

Diego nodded numbly. "Can I go now?"

The vice-principal nodded.

Diego walked out of the door, before he went o his locker, quickly stuffing books and stuff into his bag, and then sprinting out of the school, ignorant of the stares he got from the usual bus that left.

Ellie saw him, her eyes wide as she shook Manny, who turned, eyes wide now as well.

Diego ignored them, sprinting to his house, before he went inside, locking himself in, going up to his room, and pulling out his phone.

He dialled the familiar number.

_Ring…ring…ring…_

Please answer.

_Ring…ring…ring…_

Please…she couldn't end up like Benito again. She just _couldn't_.

_Ring…ring…ri-"You've reached Diana Bennett. I'm currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep._"

Without hesitation, he hung up. He swore violently under his breath.

As he put down the phone, he realised his hands were shaking.

He turned to the window, where the sun was starting to set.

Diego looked down, before clenching his hands, and unclenching them. He thought about it only for a brief moment before tugging out a larger bag, dumping in his passport, some cash, his phone, his laptop, his charger, and some sets of clothes. He grabbed the book he was reading yesterday as well, before zipping the bag.

He turned to leave by the door, but thumping up to his room stopped him.

His eyes went wide. Only he had the key to the house.

Quickly, he turned, only catching a glimpse of a bearded man, before leaping out of the window.

Summoning his magic, he managed to land softly on all fours, though he groaned as he stood up, cradling his now broken left wrist to his chest.

Great.

Well…at least it wasn't the ankle.

He sprinted down the street, the bag hardly slowing him down.

Instinct had him duck before a dark red sphere of…something smashed ahead into the lamp post. The lamp post exploded, and Diego winced, before turning back, thrusting his hand out, palm spread, at them.

Out of the five people now following him, two were knocked down by the spell.

A bullet whizzed through the air, narrowly missing Diego's ear. Even so, he could still feel the heat of the bullet, and automatically let go of his left hand.

Diego turned back, colliding with something nearly solid.

Two strong hands grasped his wrist and covered his mouth.

He let out a muffled groan as his left wrist was twisted even more.

At this rate, he might need to get pins inside it.

Thinking quickly, he bit down, sinking his teeth into meaty flesh, and feeling the bitter tang of blood fill his mouth. The man swore as he pulled his hand away. The men who had been approaching started sprinting again, a metal bracelet in his hand.

Diego recognised it.

And he sure as _hell_ didn't want that thing on his wrist.

He continued sprinting, knowing that he would soon reach Shira's place.

_C'mon…just a little bit more_.

The house was brightly illuminated, as were all the other houses, but the streets were empty. As expected, the house was at the edge of the street, near the cemetery.

He blasted any spell at them, barrelling them over, before aiming a spell to freeze them. He then ran up to the door, pounding loudly. "Open up!"

The door opened, and Manny stared at him, frowning. "What are you doing here?"

Diego didn't answer, shoving past him and slamming the door shut.

"Diego! What the hell is going on?"

"People are hunting me down."


	11. מהיר

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: Ok, I know I haven't updated for a suitably long time (in my opinion), and I was rewriting small bits of Hopeless, since I thought that it was...too rushed. But then I realised I couldn't do that without changing the whole story, and since I already started a sequel...anyways, just need to say sorry, but don't expect another update for some time. I want to try and make sure the next few chapters are fine. **

**And many thanks to Shiego627, IceAge Mutant, englishtiger and IceDynamiteDragonflyStars for reviewing, they really made my day! **

* * *

Chapter 10:

Manny gaped at Diego, who looked incredibly agitated and spooked. "_What_?"

By now, Shira's parents, and the others of the Herd were there. "Slow down, Diego." Ellie smiled nervously. "What's going on?"

Diego was panting heavily, his hazel eyes wide as he stared at them. "Diana's been captured."

"No way." Eddie spoke up. Ellie glared at him, before turning back to Diego.

"By who?"

"I don't know. But they're not Ordinaries." Diego's eyes were flitting around.

"Ordinaries?" Manny questioned.

_Humans_. Shira mouthed at them from where she was now standing next to Diego.

"Diego?" Shira turned to Diego, who's breathing had turned more rapid. She glanced up helplessly at her parents, who immediately acted.

Shira's father knelt down next to Diego.

"Diego? I need you to calm down." Diego didn't look at him. He snapped his fingers in front of his face, and Diego looked up. "You're having a panic attack, Diego. _Calm down_."

Diego was now gasping for air. "Diana."

"We'll get her back."

"Just whether alive or not, we don't know." Crash joked.

This set him off.

Instantly, Ellie, Manny and Shira each smacked him in the head. _Hard_.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" Manny hissed at him. For some reason, he didn't feel any sort of glee. Any smug part of him he suppressed. Maybe it was because he had come to terms with the fact that he and Diego were not the same species, much like he and Shira.

The house started trembling, and they looked around in horror as a mild earthquake started up.

Melanie, Shira's mother, immediately sprinted upstairs.

"Go to the living room." Shira's father said in a low voice. "_Now_."

Shira didn't argue with the tone, silently leading them to the room, where they heard Melanie come back downstairs.

The last thing they saw was a silver bracelet of some kind being clamped down on Diego's wrist.

* * *

Melanie had seen a fair share of attacking species back when she and her parents used to live in the Other world. Elves, Pixies, Sidhe, Angels, heck, even Witches. But Diego's panic attack was beyond anything she had ever seen. The sheer power that he controlled was, without a doubt, immense.

For a fleeting moment, she wondered whether it was safe or not to let Shira date Diego.

She quickly pushed the thought away as she forced the bracelet onto Diego's wrist. She had one from the time she had released her husband from one. Hopefully it still worked.

It did.

The shaking stopped, but Diego's eyes clamped shut, hands buried in his hair and tugging so hard it must've been painful. His eyes then jolted wide.

"Benito."

The single word held so much anguish.

Diego shook his head, a dry sob escaping him.

Melanie let her motherly skills take over. She moved to Diego's side, wondering if his own mother had ever done this before. Then again, she didn't even know her or where she lived. Definitely not in the same town, or he would've gone to her place instead.

It pained her to think that the only person he could go to were friends from school.

Diego leaned against her shoulder, eyes shutting once again in pain as the bracelet did it's work. It tightened around his wrist.

"Just let it go. It's fine." Melanie murmured.

Diego let out a ragged scream, his eyes flickering at something none of them could see. Another scream escaped him.

Melanie could only rock him gently, until he collapsed against her, spent, unconscious.

* * *

The screams scared them.

Shira was fidgeting with her hands.

When the screams finally ended, they looked up. A low murmur of voices. Then footsteps sounded up the stairs, while Melanie entered the living room.

"Is he ok?" Shira blurted out.

Melanie nodded. "Unconscious, but fine."

"Anything else?"

She raised an eyebrow. "He mentioned someone named Benito."

Ellie frowned. "Didn't he mention someone like that when he had that panic attack last year?"

Shira nodded, already reaching for Diego's bag, which was now sitting next to her. She took out his phone, typing in the password, before opening contacts.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.

"Getting Soto. The only one who would actually have a guess about this is him."

She dialled the number.

"_Diego_?"

"Soto, it's me." Shira put the phone on speaker.

"_Lopez? Why are you calling me on Diego's phone? Much less at this time?_"

"Diego had another panic attack."

Silence.

"And he mentioned someone named Benito."

"_And_?"

"Do you have any idea who he is?"

A heavy sigh, reluctance clear in his tone. "_To be honest, I'm not sure._"

"But you suspect." Ellie pointed out without hesitation.

Soto sighed again. "_I think that Benito was his brother? I mean, besides…_"

Shira frowned at the tone. Her mind raced. What would Soto be worried about revealing without Diego's permission? Something personal, about siblings- wait. "I know about his half-siblings."

"What half-siblings?" Manny demanded.

Shira pursed her lips. Her parents were looking confused as well, and she sighed. "I can't tell. I promised Di I wouldn't."

Soto spoke up from the line. "_Anyway, I think something happened to Benito_."

"Why?" Shira frowned again.

"_Think about it, Lopez. We've all heard from the crazy older sister_," Crash and Eddie snickered, "_but no brother. Unless Di is paranoid and really wants to keep Benito a secret, means something happened to Benito._"

"But what?!" Shira growled. She heard Soto's equally annoyed growl.

"_Do you think I know, Lopez_?!"

Shira blinked, then shook her head. "Sorry, just-. You know."

Soto's answer was also resigned. "_Tell me when he wakes_."

"Sure thing." Shira nodded, about to hang up, before Soto's voice cut in.

"_Hey, have you tried calling Diana_?"

Shira growled. "No. Apparently, Diana's missing. Probably some thugs."

Surprise coloured Soto's tone. "_Seriously? Because from what Di's told me, Diana's able to hold her own in a fight._"

"What?" this information was new. Shira noticed her parents leaning forward, eyes more alert now. "What do you mean?"

"_I mean that Diana's survived many assassination attempts. That person must be _really_ powerful if they managed to take out Diana._"

Shira frowned, noticing her parent's alarmed looks. "Ok then. I'll try calling her. Thanks, and bye."

"_Bye_."

Soto hung up, and Shira looked at her parents, troubled. Wordlessly, she dialled in Diana's number, putting her on speaker. The phone rang once, twice, and then fell to voicemail. "_You've reached Diana Bennett. I'm currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep._" _Beep_.

She looked up at her parents, scrolling through the phone's contents. Diego had called his sister about half an hour ago.

"What is it?"

Melanie leaned forward, her face serious. "Shira, if Diana is as good as Soto seems to think, then she must've been taken by something from the Other world."

"The Other world?" Manny repeated confused. "What's that?"

Shira's father looked surprised at the question. "I thought you would know it, being children of Dæmon-hunters. The Other world is the world where our kind reside. We can't live here in this world all at once - we would be hunted down faster than you can say "dead"."

"Why would they take Diana?" Ellie leaned forward. "I mean, sure, Diego's a Witch, but is Diana one? If she was, then she could've escaped, right? Mom said that Witches' powers act on instinct to their user's emotion. If they jumped her, she would've been able to win, right?"

"That's because Diana's not a Witch." Diego was walking down the stairs to join them in the living room. For having collapsed recently, he seemed fine, eyes intent as he looked at Ellie.

"She's a human?" Sid guessed.

A shake of the head. "No. She's half-elf."

"Whoa whoa whoa. Hold it." Ellie frowned. "You're a Witch. Diana's half-Elf. I'm guessing she's also half-human?"

A nod.

"Then how does that work?"

Diego frowned, considering it. "My mom was an Elf. My father was a human. Diana was the first child."

"Then what about you?"

"Witchcraft has always run in my family." Diego sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. "So has other strange kinds. My grandfather was a Sidhe, but is was something of a skip generations thing, so my mother was an Elf from my grandmother."

"That happens?" Ellie asked, head tilted.

Diego nodded. Melanie frowned. There was something niggling in the back of her head - something that she had learnt as a child. There was a family line before, one of which had random powers appearing…she just couldn't remember the name.

Diego sat down, directly opposite the window. "Yes. It does for some. Such as the Head's family. His family had been around for centuries - some of them were Elves, some were Faes, some were Medians, like Shir and her family."

Shira huffed. "So-"

"_Get DOWN_!"


	12. Otito

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: And here's the next chapter! Hope you like it...(and to those that have read my other story, _Insanity_, I'm probably gonna update it next week)**

**Thanks to IceAge Mutant and Shiego627 for reviewing! **

* * *

Chapter 11:

"_Get DOWN_!" Diego tackled Shira from where she had been sitting, back to the window. Glass shattered as something launched itself right into the wall, in the direction that Shira had been not too long ago. All of them stood quickly, coughing through the dust that had emanated from the projectile.

Diego turned, and his eyes glowed a startling green, before he thrust his hand out. A transparent light green shield formed around them, just in time to protect them from another projectile.

"Run!"

Without a second thought, Manny led the others to the back, Melanie right beside him, ready to attack anything at any moment. Diego and Shira's father took the rear, looking around as they led the way out.

"Where do we go?!" Manny asked.

Diego answered, eyes wide. "To your house!"

"What about my parents?!"

"Your house is specifically modified to protect itself from attacks like these. The attacks were all from magic, probably Sidhe magic, which means that we'll be safe there." Manny tried hard not to notice the "For now" that was uttered underneath his breath.

They made their way to Manny's house, Diego occasionally sending bursts of magic to the back, and cries sounding out. Shira's dad looked around. "Hurry!"

"No duh!" Diego snapped back, sending another wave of magic, knocking whoever it was out temporarily. "Get back!"

Without hesitation, Shira's dad stumbled backwards, eyes wide as something launched itself at Diego. Diego kicked at it, before blindly punching out in the dark. The person let out an 'oomph!' before kicking forward as well. Diego fell to the floor, now wrestling with the figure, before firing two shots in precision, grazing the other's shoulder enough for the being to let go in surprise. It was all Diego needed before he sent a bolt of magic to the head - the person crumpled to the floor. All this happened in less than 20 seconds.

"Help me!" Diego grunted at Shira's dad, who took up the man, moving with the others, who had stopped. "Keep going!"

No sense of time was kept as they stumbled half-blindly to Manny's house. Diego still let out the occasional burst of magic to the back, which lit up with magic as well. The translucent green shield that had been created at the sides was now beginning to wear down. Cracks were starting to appear in it, and it was obvious that Diego was wearing down.

"There!" Manny finally pointed out. "Thank god!"

They moved faster now, going to the door. Manny ran up to the house with the others, not noticing the hesitation in which the Other worlders showed as he fumbled with the key. It finally slotted into the lock, unlocked as bright light poured outside from the house. Manny's mother Elena was there, eyes wide as she gathered them inside.

She nodded at Melanie, who ran in with Shira in front of her. Shira's dad moved to the doorway, making it halfway in before being stopped. He turned around. "Dammit!"

"Diego!" Manny called from the inside. "Come in!"

"I can't!" he called back, teeth gritted as the shield started to crack under the pressure of the darkly coloured orbs of magic attacking relentlessly. The others were now in sight.

"Diego!" Elena threw something at him. He grumbled, scowling at it before slipping it onto his wrist and ran inside, the door slamming shut. They held their breath for a long time, before finally exhaling as one.

"What the hell was that?" Manny finally asked.

Diego peered through the window cautiously. "They're gone."

"What was that?" Manny demanded again as Sid's granny glared at Diego, pointing a gun at him.

"Gloria, put the gun down!" Elena shouted at Sid's granny, trying to get close to her. Michael reached her first, struggling with her to put the gun down while Diego watched, eyes wide as he froze where he was.

"He's a no-good double two-time Witch!"

"What?!" Shira demanded.

"His kind killed Fredrick! His kind killed my husband!" she screamed, eyes glaring with hate at him.

"What?!" Diego demanded. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"When the Dæmon-hunters went to the Witches' Land-"

Diego seemed incredulous now, green eyes intense and glaring as he spat out his reply. "You mean when they _invaded_ the Witches' Land, and massacred-"

"_Defended_ themselves against those low-filthy beings-"

"More like _attacked_ them! They killed the children-"

Granny was beyond reason now, spitting at him as she continued. "Thanks to your kind, _hundreds_ of Dæmon-hunters, good ones, _died_ that night!"

"_Excuse_ me?" Diego seemed irritated, arms crossed and every muscle in his body tense as he glared. "We may have killed hundreds of you in self-defence, but you _murdered_ in cold-blood, _tens of thousands_ of the Witches! You invaded when you knew they were neutral. You kidnapped the children because you _knew_ the Witches wouldn't go to battle if the children's lives were at stake. You _killed_ most of them as 'demonstrations'.

"And you accuse _us_ of being low-filthy beings?! Look at yourself! I get that your husband being killed was harsh, but he was part of a cause that was both suicidal and merciless. My grandfather and great-aunt were _killed_ in that fight! Have you even thought of the Witches and children that survived?! They are currently somewhere around the world, not being able to return to their own land, because it was _stolen_ from them!"

There was silence as both glared at one another, Granny seeming to calm down slightly at the mention of Diego's family. Diego was glaring at her, showing no signs of backing down. The others were silent, watching them both.

Elena was the first to break the silence. "Come on in, we'll get some drinks." They followed quietly, sitting themselves down. Diego sat nearest to the doorway of the living room, looking down at the ground. As soon as everyone was settled, Elena started. "What happened?"

"We were attacked." Melanie stated. "By who we don't know. We just think that they were after Diego, and they have his sister."

Elena looked at the teen, who looked back sullenly. "Do you know who they are?"

"No." The answer was curt as he reached into something in thin air. He pulled out a book, turning to a page, frowning at it as he stared at it. "Something's not right though."

"With what?" Manny asked, exasperated. "Am I the only one who has no idea what's going on here?"

Diego turned to him, gaze piercing. "Diana was an elf. Like I said."

"Wait." Melanie interrupted, looking at Diego. "I remember. You're a White."

"What?" Ellie asked, sounding offended.

"Not in that sense." Elena assured her, looking slightly stunned herself. "A White. They descended from Dante White. He was a Witch, but his line was known to include random other kinds, such as Witches, Sidhes, Faes, even Medians. Incredibly strong bloodline…Dante White himself was the 25th Head of the Other World."

Diego looked down.

"Only 25th?" Manny asked skeptically.

Melanie laughed at that. "The ones before lived for a _long_ time. Dante was the only Head up till that point that had a mortal lifespan."

"Then what would they want from you? Or Diana?" Ellie interjected, frowning.

Shira's father scoffed. "Were you listening or not? The Whites were an extremely powerful and lasting bloodline. Why else would they want Diego or Diana?" Ellie looked down in bashfulness. "Important question - how do we get Diana back without giving them what they want?"

Suddenly, the phone rang.


	13. 急速な

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: It's been a long time since I updated, and I'm really sorry for that! Hope you enjoy this chapter. ******Really hope that this chapter isn't a disappointment or that it's going too fast. **Big thanks to IceDyanamiteDragonflyStars, Guest, WalkmanQuill207 and Shiego627 for reviewing - your reviews made my day! :)  
**

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Chapter 12:  
They stared at the phone for a while, before Elena stood up, putting it on speaker. "Hello? Who's speaking?"

The voice that answered was harsh and cold. "_We know where you are. We know who you are. You will not be safe for long._" they stared at one another in alarm. "_We have Diana Bennett, along with your other half-siblings._"

Diego froze, inhaling sharply, but barked out a question before the other person could speak. "Does my father know of this?"

It was the first time that Diego had ever referred to a parent. The guardian issues were settled with Diana.

A voice laughed. "_Oh, he won't._"

"Wait." Shira frowned. "What about Derek?"

Diego growled at the name, but the other person laughed once more. "_Oh, so you found out. What a pity. He was useful for a while. He will need to be eliminated_."

"Let them go, creep." Diego snarled at the phone.

The voice sounded mocking now. "_Ah ah ah. I'd be careful if I were you, or you'd end up like your grandfather._"

"What?" Diego sounded utterly confused now. "My grandfather?"

"_Oh dear_." the voice sighed. "_It seems I've revealed too much. You have 72 hours, Diego White, to give yourself up to us before we obliterate your entire family. And we wouldn't want that, not for little Mia, will we?_"

Diego tensed, eyes glaring at the phone. "Don't you touch her!"

The voice merely laughed again. "_At Central Park. 72 hours or you will never see any of them again._" The person hung up, leaving them frustrated.

"That's not a lot of help." Sid voiced.

"Gee, you think?" Diego turned the force of his glare to him.

"Who's Mia?" Eddie asked, looking at the phone confusedly.

"My half-sister." Diego gritted out. "She's barely six."

That had them reeling backwards. Elena closed her eyes, sighing with despair. They had two choices - one, they could just hand Diego over, and his half siblings and Diana would be released, no harm done to them. But Diego would be subjected to who knows what sort of torture. Two - they try to rescue Diana and Diego's half-siblings before 72 hours were up. That seemed highly improbable, and it was evident that Diego's thoughts were going in the same direction as he groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Then what do we do?" Ellie was the one who voiced the question, looking at the adults and finally at Diego. Diego looked up, hazel green eyes meeting bright green.

"I don't know." he sounded so defeated.

Michael sighed, before he spoke up. "We need to find where Diana and your half-siblings are located. Then we need to get them out before 72 hours is up."

"Easier said than done." Diego looked up. "For one thing, we don't even know if they're still in the country. Second, we don't know who we are up against. Third, we don't know what we are up against. Fourth, what if they do something to them?"

Michael nodded determinedly, looking around the room. "We start with what we know first. How did Diana get captured?"

"Not easily." Diego stated matter-of-factly. "She carries a knife wherever she goes. Plus she's an Elf."

"What can Elves do, anyway?" Sid frowned.

Diego turned to him. "they can grow any sort of vegetation immediately no matter where they are."

"But there was no sign of vegetation, or it would've become more of a greater matter." Elena noted. "Then they must've taken her out before she had a chance to use them - they took her by surprise." she turned to Diego. "Do you have any idea where she might've been when she was taken?"

Diego frowned. "Either in her apartment or at work. I think it's more likely the apartment, since I called her around nighttime, when she should've been off work. But I told her about Derek, and…I dunno. Call it a hunch, I guess, but I think that it's more likely her apartment."

"Ok then." Elena turned to the rest. "Granny, you, Caroline and Rex," Granny (as everyone called her), Ellie's mom and Shira's dad perked up. "You guys head over to the apartment and see if there's anything off about it. Diego, what's the address?"

"The apartments right across Central Park, there is a whole block of them. Go to Building 2A, floor 15, apartment 15B."

Nodding, the three adults stood up and left.

As soon as the door closed, Elena looked at the remaining people around. "Alright. Melanie, you're coming with me and Michael. We're going to look around to make sure that they're gone. You kids stay here." she frowned at them as they started to protest. "We don't know what they want yet, and you guys don't know how to properly defend yourself yet. And as for you two," she looked pointedly at Diego and Shira, "are the only two that can protect them if anything tries to something funny. Besides, bringing you out, Diego, will be like trying to shine a beacon on us."

Diego huffed, while Shira crossed her arms, glaring at them. The others looked worried as the adults finally turned to leave, before Diego called out. "Wait!"

They turned around.

Diego waved his arm which still had the silver bracelet on it. "Forget something? How the heck do you want me to 'protect'" he used air quotes "them if I can't even access my magic?"

Elena let out a smile, before turning to take out the bracelet, handing it to Diego. "If anyone with magic tries to come through that door, give this to them."

A nod, and the adults left.

Without a word, Manny moved upstairs. Ellie looked after him worriedly, before following him upstairs. Diego watched them go, brow creased with worry. Shira looked at him, placing a hand on his arm. "You alright?"

"Don't think so."

Shira raised an eyebrow, asking him to elaborate. And then promptly glared at the twins and Sid, who lumbered upstairs, taking the obvious hint.

"My sister and half-siblings are all gone. My father doesn't even know they're gone, and I don't know how. Something's telling me that something big is gonna happen soon, and" he shot a worried look upstairs. "the last time I had this sort of feeling, people died, Shira. Died."

"That's not it completely." Shira looked at him. "What is it?" her look gave way to concern.

"My grandmother." Diego sighed. "The last time I saw her, I had a bad feeling. She went upstairs to get something. She doesn't come down for a long time. I go upstairs, see what's going on, and I see the window near the bathroom shattered. I walk in the bathroom, she's dead, both eyeballs gouged out beside her and a knife sticking her to the wall through her head."

"Satan's devil." Shira muttered, rubbing her eyes with her hands. No wonder Diego was so on edge. Everytime he felt like something bad would happen, it almost nearly did. She sighed, but turned curious. "Wait. What's that 'feeling' you get?"

Diego shrugged. "Sort of like a magic sixth sense. I know something's gonna happen, and almost how it will happen. I can warn them against doing the thing, probably saving them, but if they don't listen to me…then it's gonna happen anyway."

"Just Witches?"

Another shrug. "I think that most Whites have it. It's how they've evaded death so much."

Shira's mind was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't get it through yet. "What about your grandfather and great-aunt?"

Diego turned to her, and she could tell that there was slow realisation in his eyes as he got to the same process as her. "They should have it."

"And I've thought of something weird. But I need to ask something first."

"Hm?"

"Were your grandfather and great-aunt Witches?"

"No." Diego shook his head. "My grandfather was a Sidhe. My great-aunt was an Elf."

Shira looked at him. "Then what were they doing in the middle of a Witches' war?"

Diego froze as he turned to her. "I have no idea."

"We need more info to go on." Shira looked outside in the dark menacing night. "Do you have their files?"

Diego nodded slowly as he waved a hand. He slipped his hand into something invisible in mid-air, and pulled out two files. "Luck of having Diana as a sibling." he opened his grandfather's file, and Shira got a glance at the name. _Diego Dhrym White._ Diego frowned, looking at it. "That can't be right."

"What?" Shira asked, peering over his shoulder.

"It says here that he…once saved a dæmon-hunter."

"No." Shira looked closely. "A…" her blood turned to ice for a moment, though she didn't know why. "Isn't that Sid's last name?"

Diego turned to her solemnly and nodded.

_Frederick Mason._

* * *

Ellie smiled at Manny, who was sitting in his room, staring out the window at the moon. "You okay?" Manny didn't turn around the grace her with a response - he merely grunted. "What's wrong?"

"This is just beyond me." Manny sighed. "I mean…Witches? Elves? Demons? This thing is getting too supernatural for me. And don't even remind me of Diego's creepy half-brother. And half-siblings. We're dealing in things our parents have hidden from us for…forever, and that we only found out last week." he ranted. "And, not just that, but one of our best friends is a Witch, from one of the most powerful bloodlines ever, while our other friend, who happens to be dating him, is a Median, lives next to a graveyard and can speak with ghosts."

"You know," Sid's voice drifted up. "It's not so weird, I guess. I mean, what did you think your parents did for a living?"

Manny sighed, too weary to even scold him. "That's what worries me. How do they get their profits? From killing Dæmons? Other beings?" he slumped. "And, now they're off somewhere with someone hunting us down. I guess it's just a lot to process."

Ellie smiled. "Of course it is. I'm pretty sure I would've gone half-mad by now if I was normal."

"So we're not normal." Manny frowned.

"Yes." Ellie nodded. "But the best people aren't, are they? They are usually crazy." A weak laugh was heard from all four of them - Manny, Sid and the twins. Ellie leaned back against Manny, wondering how all this started - oh right. A music project because of a Sophomore exchange that had been happening for years.

Footsteps running up caught their attention, and Shira appeared. "Guys! There's something we think you should see."

They looked at one another, and sprinted downstairs.**  
**


	14. 快速

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: And it's been a long time since I updated...again. Honestly, I was getting writer's block for a while, but I'm nearly done with the story! Thanks to englishtiger ****for reviewing!**

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Chapter 13:  
They reached the living room, where several files were strewn about, and an A2 piece of paper was stuck to the wall, some kind of timeline drawn on it. How they got the supplies to, Manny didn't want to know. Diego turned around, his eyes bright as he beckoned them over, before handing them a file.

"This is the file of my grandfather." Manny raised an eyebrow at the name, but flipped it open. "Look at who once saved him."

They turned to where Shira helpfully pointed them, and Sid gasped.

"That's your last name, isn't it, Sid?" Diego asked.

"Yep." Sid squeaked out.

"And that's your grandfather, isn't it? The one that your grandmother was screaming at me about?"

"Yup." Sid squeaked out again. _Frederick Mason. _

"Is that it?" Manny asked, looking up. He had a feeling he wouldn't like where this was heading. "And how did you manage to get so much done in, ten minutes?"

Diego barked out a laugh. "Magic, remember? Surprisingly helpful in art." but his tone turned serious as he continued. "Shira and I looked through their files. We don't have your grandfather's file, Sid, but we did what we can. Here." he pointed at the A3 sheet of paper. "Is when the Witches' Massacre/War started and ended. It started at this time," he pointed at the beginning, "and ended here, when the bell was rung, calling all Witches to retreat. But it wasn't till an hour later that the Witches completely fled their land."

He leaned forward. "Look at the date of death."

Manny frowned at the date. "It's halfway through the Witches' War."

"Yep." Diego and Shia looked at them, urging them on.

Ellie looked at the map, doing some quick calculations in her mind. "It's _exactly_ halfway through the Witches' War."

"Exactly." Shira nodded.

Diego let out a wolfish grin. "But that information is inaccurate." he pulled a book out from the files on the coffee-table, opening it to a certain page. "This book records lives of well-known Whites."

"How does it work?"

Diego looked up. "Long and complicated reasoning that I don't have time to explain but probably will in the future." He flipped to a page. "Look at the date."

They peered at it. Ellie turned back to the file. "That's…the completely wrong date."

"Yep." Diego nodded. "If Frederick died in the middle of the War, believable - he was a dæmon-hunter. If either Dhrym or Dhya, my grandfather and great-aunt, respectively, died at the same time, coincidence? Sure. If all three died at the time," he showed them Dhya's file. Manny looked at the writing on it. _Dhya Chiara White_. "Then if can't be a coincidence, can it?"

Ellie looked around the house, the house suddenly seeming more eerie. She felt more wide-awake than ever.

Diego continued on. "But Dhrym was a Sidhe. Dhya was an Elf. And it was recorded that both of them were still individually in the Mortal world, on opposite sides of the Earth. But that's not true." he referred back to the book. "Dhya and Dhrym died together, at the same place, within _minutes_ of each other. I'm willing to bet Frederick did as well."

Sid looked up at the hazel-green eyes that were positively gleaming now. "And?"

Diego leaned forward. "Dhrym and Frederick were good friends. Dying within minutes of each other? That seems too big a coincidence. And the file was wrong." he gestured at the book. "It says here that they both died in the Other world, but it hasn't specified _where_. Frederick was believed to have died in the Witches' land."

"So?" Ellie frowned, not quite understanding.

Shira answered. "None of their spirits were ever reported being seen by Medians. If their spirits went missing, they would be reported, no doubt. All of them get reported to make sure that there aren't any rogue spirits. And guess who handles all the spirits?"

They stared at her.

"The Median that sits on the Council."

Their eyes widened, but before they could say another word, Diego interjected. "And guess who handles the files that mark the deaths of Other world kinds?"

They shook their heads, but Ellie had an inkling she knew where this was going.

"The Council." Diego's voice was serious.

"But…what would they get with trying to cover up the deaths of Dhrym and Dhya?" Ellie frowned.

"Sidhe are known for being driven by love. They were mostly peace-loving, as a result, but extremely powerful. Their magic was so old that they could push the limits for magic, unlike Witches. That means these," Diego held up the silvery band. "Will not suppress their magic. At that time, I'm sure, Dhrym had just gotten married to my grandmother." his eyes dimmed slightly, but he continued on nevertheless.

"We think that the Council felt threatened. Right now, the Council holds absolute power - especially the Head. Dante White, the beginning of the White bloodline, took over the Council as 25th Head and allowed democracy - it meant that the Council representatives won't just represent their kind, they would represent their kind's _ideas_.

"They would be allowed to vote, and the Council will no longer follow the rule that the next representative would be related to the former representative of a kind. The Council was horrified at this, and once Dante White died, immediately objected to the rule and wiped it out. Not a lot of people were happy with them. But since they kept the rule of bloodlines, Whites have every right to claim position as Head, as long as we win fighting with them.

"Dhrym was a Sidhe. An extremely powerful one, with a wife and a child to protect. That would be one of the many causes, we think the Council believes, that Dhrym would try to seize the position of Head and reintroduce democracy."

"So they killed him." Ellie concluded.

Diego nodded.

"Then why Dhya or Frederick?" Sid frowned.

Diego rolled his eyes. "Dhya was close to Dhrym. Anything happen to him that seems the least bit fishy, which needed to be since Dhrym was notorious for escaping death, and she would immediately go and see what it is. And she was known for getting what she wants. Frederick was a close friend of Dhrym. He was an extremely influential Dæmon-hunter. Should anything happen to Dhrym, Frederick would help Dhya find out what's going on."

"So you think the Council did this?" Ellie asked.

Diego shook his head. "It's hard to tell. It could've been someone working behind the scenes, since Faes are extremely righteous, and should've stopped this from happening, or it could've been between few members of the Council. Besides," he looked at them helplessly. "there were at least fifty different members, some alive and some dead, that had been on the Council between that time and now, whether retired or still serving the Council. It would be impossible to tell which ones were genuine and fake."

"So you're saying that we're still hitting a dead end?"

"Not exactly." Diego grinned. "We've located a Seer."

"What _are_ Seers?"

"Seers are people that can see over wide distances, both literally and in the flow of time. This one's friendly, and has agreed to help us."

"You sure this isn't a trap?"

Diego nodded. "That's why we already called Shira's father. We're going to meet up with your parents as soon as Manny's parents return and-"

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

* * *

Elena looked around, gaze confident. She turned to her husband and Melanie, who were both on guard. Melanie's eyes were glowing silver in the moonlight, and her pale skin made her seem more prominent in the night. "See anything?"

"No." Melanie answered tersely.

"They couldn't have escaped, could they?" Michael asked, frowning.

"If they have magic, yes." Melanie snapped at him. "At least two of them have magic, if I remember correctly. The rest were just for numbers and fear factor."

"We should've brought the boy with us." Michael sighed. "At least then, he'll be able to locate this faster with his magic."

Melanie rolled her eyes while Elena let out a gentle smile. "You don't trust him with Manny and the others, don't you?"

Michael turned to her, gaze worried. "Elena, you saw what he did. He killed a Hound in a single night before we even had the chance to be there, and disappeared to who knows where right before we might've seen him. It means that he's vicious and knows his magic well."

"And it means that he's the best protector we've got to cover the kids." Elena spoke patiently. "And the fact that he was concerned enough to risk killing the Hound while he knows that there are dæmon-hunters around to protect the kids is something that we should take into consideration."

Melanie suddenly froze, her silver eyes fixed on something. "Did you see that?"

Both turned instantly, hands on guns.

They froze, looking around. They were nearly at the end of the neighbourhood, and the house they were in currently, before the start of the highway, was empty. Mrs. Lance, a retired dæmon-hunter who lived in the house, had gone on holiday with her son, Tony, nicknamed Fast Tony, even against everyone's protests.

A low growl was heard, and the trio froze, turning to Mrs. Lance's house. A large figure emerged, two eyes glinting in the moonlight - one was large and literally red with yellow lightning bolts attaching itself to the thing's pupils. The other was tiny and relatively normal looking. It straightened up, and Melanie stifled a gasp.

"What the _hell_ is that thing?"

The figure stood over 50 foot tall, and it was shrouded in darkness. It's odd eyes fixed on them, and they backed away slowly. The figure stomped towards them, and it was a surprise that no one noticed the mild earthquake that shook with it's every step.

Suddenly, Melanie cried out, and both turned in time to see electricity dancing along her body before she collapsed, unconscious. Michael went down with a hard hit to the head, and Elena shot the man, turning around and side-kicking the person that tried to creep up on her, only to be taken down by a taser.

_Like the one that Diana was probably brought down with._ The random thought floated around her head, and she didn't know why, but she smacked the man's hands as she fell, knocking it over to the overgrown grass on Mrs. Lance's lawn. Before her vision faded to black, she saw the thing and the remaining man head over in the direction of her house.

_Diego, Shira, make sure they're okay._


	15. ರ ಪ ಡ

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: Warning, some characters might be a little OOC. And I'm going to have more scenes with only OCs in them since I need different perspectives.**

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Chapter 14:  
To say Diana Bennett was furious or enraged would be the biggest understatement in history. She was infuriated, incensed, incandescent, livid, outraged, and _absolutely_ beyond herself. Not only had that excuse of a man tasered her, leaving her with a still sore bruise on her back, he also had the _nerve_ to kidnap her other half-siblings, including little Mia!

And not only that, but they had actually threatened her brother! And tried to _kill_ him! When she got her hands on whoever was in charge-

Her thoughts were cut off as Mia whimpered from where she was on Diana's lap, trying to get some sleep. Diana immediately became more awake, looking at the giant steel door that was trapping them and cutting off their magic. Mia, being a Seer, was young and wasn't used to it, resulting in her becoming more uncomfortable by the hour.

Three people were shoved inside, all of whom looked very familiar. Diana squinted at their faces, who turned to her, recognition dawning their features. Only one, one of the two females, walked to her, sitting in front of her. "Are you Diana Bennett? Diego's older sister?"

Diana nodded, ears immediately perking up for any news about her reckless younger brother. Her other half-siblings were looking up hopefully. "I'm afraid I'm at a disadvantage. You know my name, I don't know yours."

The woman smiled. "I'm Elena. Elena Romano. Manny's mother."

"Ah." Diana nodded. The fat one that denied ever being fat. She didn't say her thoughts aloud though, and asked another question. "Do you know where he is?"

Elena shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. The last time that we saw Diego and the others was when we left them at our house. We split up in order to try to cover more ground. Gloria, Rex and Caroline were off to your apartment, the last time we saw them."

"You left him _alone_?" Diana demanded, her sisterly tone coming out at the fact that Diego and the others were left alone to face a threatening enemy that was frustrating and horrible terrible horrendous abominable abhorrent and all of the above.

Elena looked at her patiently. "We needed to split up. Giving each group a Median seemed reasonable. And if we had taken the others with us, more of us would've been caught and we would have a slimmer chance of getting rescued."

A snort from one of Diana's half-brothers, Marcus. "You honestly think that Diego's gonna get us out of here?"

Fixing Marcus with her piercing glare, Diana replied coldly. "You'd be surprised as to what Diego can do."

* * *

Elsewhere, the doppleganger was bowing to its master. "I'm sorry master, but I have not been able to collect the White for you."

A growl from the shadows. "I send you in, trusted in you, my best assassin, yet you have failed me. _Twice_! How is it that you cannot grab him?"

"He is always with the others, and, as you said, you did not want me to collect him when there are others around. And someone else sent people after him the night I deemed right to collect him. I do not know who they are."

The shadows growled, cursing. "Who, in Satan's name, would want the White?"

* * *

Meanwhile, a man sat idly, watching the giant beast of a man trying to escape from the chains that leashed it to the magic pit. Getting past Dante White's spells to forever imprison this thing, Chapulan, had taken more than a hundred of different kinds of assassins to get past - and about 90% of them had died in the process of either trying to escape or undo a spell. And that wasn't even counting how hard it was to _locate_ him in the first place and find somewhere that could actually hold him.

Dante White was a formidable enemy, the man could give him that.

He looked at his watch. One more hour before he could go off watch. He leaned back, a smirk curling up on his lips as he looked at Chapulan struggle desperately against his chains.

"And about 70 hours before we kill the whole lot and release Chapulan."

* * *

The Fae Regent was desperate now. At least a hundred assassins of different kinds had disappeared without a trace, and the Council was refusing to look into it, deciding that assassins were too much trouble - besides, someone killing assassins was a good thing, wasn't it? Dillon Reginald banged his head against his desk as he growled at the paperwork.

Something big was going to happen.

He flew up and looked at the window, which was darkening. Suddenly, he froze, ears listening intently.

There it was again.

But…no.

Dante White had imprisoned it good enough…right? His spells were formidable to break.

But then…what about all those assassins that had disappeared off the face of the Earth and the Other World?

He tilted his head, before straightening up.

Time to go and check up on Solomon Chapulan.

* * *

Granny looked around. It was dark and empty, strangely eerie. Thanks to Rex's knowledge, they had managed to use a portal to get to Central Park, but they had a hell of a time trying to get through the woods to find the neat line of apartments that they realised was what Diego was talking about. They entered it with relative ease, but once they got up the lift - Granny felt uncomfortable.

They entered Diana's apartment, which had been sealed off but was now locked, and looked around. Everything looked relatively normal.

"Should we split up?" Caroline asked in the deafening silence.

"Don't." Granny hissed sharply. "If they take us quietly, all of us would be caught easily. Divide and conquer. We don't have the upper hand here. No use trying to risk it."

Years of experience had taught her that valuable lesson.

Making their way to Diana's bedroom, they looked around. Granny looked down as she took out her phone, scanning the area. No sign of any magic being used here. That means that they must've outnumbered her. She looked at the scuff marks on the floor and then peered underneath the bed. At the far corner was the knife, coated with blood.

How the fools called policemen missed that she would never know. Probably had an enchantment on it, but then why weren't they registering as magic on her scanner?

Caroline saw it as well and reached to grab it, but Granny immediately took her hand. "Don't."

Caroline nodded, pale and shaky as they looked around. Granny's mind was racing. How was there no magic? The only way would be for it to…be a neutraliser. But a neutraliser only worked if…Granny's blood turned cold as Rex pulled out his phone, frowning at the number.

"Caroline? Gloria? It's Shira."

"Pick it up." Granny ordered, quick and sharp.

Rex answered, putting the phone to speaker. "Hello?"

Diego's voice crackled over the phone. "_Hello_?"

"Diego?" Rex asked.

The boy sounded excited, though there was a tinge of fear. "_We think we know who might be responsible for kidnapping Diana and the others_." he wasted no time. "_The Council_."

"What?" Granny demanded.

"_Shira and I looked through my grandfather and great-aunt's file. Their death date on the official file was completely wrong. We don't have Frederick's, but we think that it was altered to. And here's the interesting bit - their spirits never reached the dead, but it was not reported. Guess who looks over the files and everything?_"

"The Council." Granny whispered. "You think the Council murdered them?"

Diego sighed. _"We're not sure yet, but we're pretty sure that the three died sometime during the hour when the Witches were escaping their land. The file states that Dhrym and Dhya - my grandfather and great-aunt - were in the Mortal world when they were killed, but we think that they were actually in the Other world, and died within minutes of Frederick and each other._"

"So what?" Rex frowned. This was a lot to take in. The Council was made up of the most powerful beings/representatives of the Other World. If they had decided to do something, it was best not to ask what they were doing and just accept it as the norm. But this? "We threaten the Council?"

"_No_." Diego sounded further away now. "_We located a Seer not too far from your location. We're just waiting for the other adults to return and we'll meet you guys at Central Park using the same portal that you used to get there. Shira knows where it is._"

Rex nodded. "We'll see you…in half an hour?"

"_I guess so._" Diego seemed to shrug over the phone, before he hung up.

Caroline let out a breath of air, before freezing. "Do you guys hear that?"

They froze.

_Drip drop._

"Did any of you leave a tap running?" Caroline whispered. Both shook their head negative. Caroline inhaled sharply, preparing her gun. She turned around and fired - straight into a man's chest. The person fell over, and Granny sprinted out.

"We have to get out!"

They sprinted out to the door, to find themselves face-to-face with a man, his hand glowing, about to fire a blast. But Granny was quicker, firing another shot and sprinting out of the apartment. "Hurry up!" She slammed the door to the stairs so hard that the man hiding behind it actually smashed his head against the wall and got knocked out.

Granny led the way down the stairs, stopping every once in a while to fire another shot. Rex covered their backs, calling upon spirits to protect them from the back and thanking them every so often when a thud and an 'oomf' was heard. They made it to the lobby and continued out, Caroline now taking the lead and shoving a man aside as they made their way to Central Park.

"What do we do now?" Rex panted. The sprint down had been harried.

Suddenly, a person appeared, and they pulled out their guns, only to frown in confusion as Shira appeared. "Guys! The others, they-" she breathed out shakily. "Thank god we found you-"

Taking Caroline's hand, Rex used the gun in her hand to shoot Shira. Shira fell to the floor, dead, as she shifted back to an odd looking girl with dark green hair. "What was that?" Caroline demanded, turning to Rex.

Granny merely shook her head. "Thank _god_. If it were Shira, she'd be saying _Satan_ or _Devil_. Something to do with preferences, since she's a Median." They turned back, seeing more men in pursuit of them, most of them having spells ready in their hands to fire on moment's notice.

"Dammit!" Granny cursed as she fired off another shot and reloaded her gun. Then, just as colourful blasts were about to hit them, a translucent green shield protected them, letting the spells hit it weakly, dissolving as footsteps were heard, and the seven children came sprinting out, Diego's eyes glowing green and a spell on his fingertips being fired to hit one man down.

"Where're the others?" Rex asked, seeing them approach.

Shira answered. "Captured."


	16. ຢ າງວ ອງໄວ

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: And here's the next chapter...hope you guys enjoy! Big thanks to IceAge Mutant for reviewing!**

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Chapter 15:  
_Knock. Knock. Knock._

The six froze, looking at the door. The curtains were closed, so it was no use trying to see who was there. Without hesitation, Diego immediately used his magic to collect everything they had done to find out the Council was (partly?) responsible for this into midair, where it disappeared, and then turned to the door.

"We need to get out of here." he whispered to the others.

Shira nodded. "We need to get to the portal."

"Head out the back door." Manny whispered. "It's hidden, and hard to find. We can get out of there."

Nodding, Diego and Shira let Manny lead them out the door. Shira pulled her phone out of her pocket and cursed quietly. "No signal. They must've blocked it so we can't get help."

"Dammit." Diego suddenly froze. "Do you think they heard our conversation from previously?"

Shira shrugged helplessly.

They made their way out the backdoor, and sprinted to the fence surrounding it, all of them leaping over it easily, though Sid landed with an 'oof!'. All turned to him, shushing him violently, before a yell was heard and a bang following it.

"They're inside." Diego realised. "Hurry up!"

They sprinted across the pavement, eyes wide with fear as they tried to make their way to the graveyard, where Shira knew where the portal was located and where the spirits would help them. Nearing the entrance of the graveyard, Diego noticed something shining on the pavement, and frowned. After a split second hesitation, he used his magic to pull it to him, tucking it inside his pocket without a second thought.

They went into the creepy darkness of the graveyard, and looked around through the mist. Shira waved her hand, calling a few out to cover their footsteps, and then sprinted onwards to a large stone cross.

Diego turned suddenly, firing a spell to the left, the spell completely invisible before appearing a few metres away from them. A yell was heard, and footsteps were heard running in that direction, leading them deeper in the graveyard and away from the small group.

"Good thinking." Ellie whispered as they quickly made their way to the cross.

Shira looked panicked as she went to the cross, and picked something that was lying next to it - nearly invisible to those who didn't know what they were looking for. "Grab on." They all touched the smooth cool object in her palm. Another shout was heard, and Diego's eyes flashed green as he looked at the stone.

With a resounding howl, the group disappeared, leaving the object to fall back into the grass, not to be found until the next time someone used it.

* * *

The group appeared in the middle of the forest, when they heard a gunshot. Eddie, Crash and Sid screamed, before they realised the other four were already sprinting in the direction of the gunshot, and hurried to catch up, not willing to be left alone in the dark forest, especially at night.

Diego, being the fastest, reached the clearing first, sharp eyes seeing everything. Without stopping, he conjured up a shield, his hand glowing as he used his magic, before letting it disappear to fire a blast towards one of the men. The three adults looked surprisingly harried, but they seemed fine. Granny was already reloading her gun, ready for a second-round.

"Where're the others?"

"Captured." Shira breathed out. "We just managed to get out of the house in time."

"What's that in your pocket?" Granny asked, frowning at Diego's right pocket. Diego frowned, taking out a taser.

"I found it on the road. I don't know. I found it, thought it was weird, a taser lying on the street. Could've been something used to take the other three."

"Wait." Granny frowned, firing another shot as Diego once more blasted several people out of the way. "You never saw them. How'd you know they were kidnapped?"

Diego sighed. "We literally ran all the way down the neighbourhood. If they were there, they would've heard us. And we saw no one on the streets - they were all clear. They being kidnapped were the most reasonable conclusion."

"Good then." Caroline interjected, firing her gun at a man that was coming too close for comfort and ducking as a spell flew over her head. "We need to find that Seer you were talking about and see if they can find them."

Granny nodded, firing one last shot. "Witch-boy,"

"Should I be worried that I'm actually going to respond to that?"

Shira and the others cracked a smile at this while Granny huffed. "We need a blast that won't leave any effects. Where's the Seer?"

Diego pointed at a building. It was, coincidentally, seven blocks away from Diana's building.

"Great." Granny growled. "Give us a large blast, enough to give us at least a 10 minute head start."

"I'd stand back." Diego walked forward, eyes glowing as his hand glowed the same colour. Granny raised an eyebrow, but moved backwards with the rest. A shout, and a large wave of magic forced the men in front of them to fly in all directions, one of them skidding down nearly four blocks. As the group stared wide-eyed at him, he shrugged.

"You said large."

And he started sprinting in the direction. The rest followed.

* * *

Without warning, Diana suddenly shushed everyone, and they quietened, looking at her curiously. Handing Mia over to Elena, she turned to the door. Voice was shouting over the thick steel doors - how, no one would ever know.

"I sent over _forty_ men there! And you tell me the only ones you got are those three?!"

A voice, less confident, talked back. "Yes. We nearly got the other three adults, but they got out of the apartment, and then the Witch showed up."

"Then," the voice sounded forced. "_WHY DID YOU NOT HANDLE THE BOY FIRST?!_"

The voice seemed to cower. "We reached there too late, they escaped to a portal. We didn't know where the portal went."

As if talking to a very small child, the other voice spoke in an exaggerated tone. "They are going to find the others. Where are the others?"

"Um…New York?"

"EXACTLY! YOU DOLT!"

Another voice joined in the conversation. "Master?"

"WHAT?!"

The voice also seemed to cower. "The Witch and the others escaped. Most of the men are down for the count."

"WHAT?!"

Diana laughed quietly to herself, seeing the others do the same. Mia was looking better now, a small smile on her lips as she looked at Diana. Her eyes flashed happily as she played with her skirt while Elena carefully braided her hair.

She turned to Marcus. "Told you."

* * *

Dillon stared, eyes wide, at the empty pit. The pit, which had previously held the abomination known as Solomon Chapulan, was now completely empty and pitch black. A sword, one with a golden handle, was lying to the side, forgotten but not broken. But that was none of his concern. Solomon Chapulan, which Dante White had tried so hard to keep down forever, casting spell after spell and eventually using up his own life, was now on the loose.

Or under someone's command.

And that scared Dillon more than if Solomon Chapulan had escaped himself.

His wings emitted a hum as he turned and zipped away, all the while wondering what to do.

He couldn't inform the Council, no. He had an inkling that maybe the Council had planned this.

No.

He needed to keep watch, and be ready to act should the need arise.

* * *

_Dante White looked down at the pit with frigid sharp hazel-green eyes. His hair was tousled and coated with a light sheen of blood. The left side of his face was scarred terribly, looking as if burnt, with the green eye barely visible through his face. His military uniform was tattered and burnt, and the hands gripping his sword was now melded with the leather that was previously his gloves. _

_He was tired beyond comprehension, yet his eyes glowed fiercely, while he looked down at the deep pit that had been dug, had been made, especially for Solomon Chapulan. He glared down at where the monster was struggling to get free, the thick skin of the hulk of a man being his only protection against magic of any kind. _

_The colossus roared in anger, and Dante White's face contorted into a snarl as he fired another spell into the pit. His eyes glowed green, matching the colour of his now glowing hand. A muttered word under his breath and an orb emerged from his hand, striking the pit, causing it to shake, but causing a translucent film of magic to cover the top of the pit. _

_The roar silenced temporarily, but White didn't stop for a moment. Again and again he fired, not batting a lash at the curses screamed up at him, at the earthquakes that shook the ground underneath him or the cracks that appeared as each translucent film added on and on, causing the overall shield that blocked Chapulan off from the world thicker and thicker. _

_Yet, even as Chapulan's yells were reduced to merely whispers and the earth shook no more, White continued at it, sweat beading down his forehead, eyes narrowed as he fired spell after spell at the shield - determined for no one to ever have the opportunity to free Chapulan. The fool that had released him the first time was taken care off, thank goodness, and everyone now knew the danger of trying to release him. _

_But White wasn't going to take any chances. The damage inflicted on the Other World was too heavy for it to try and sustain another release of Chapulan. His knees shook, and White reached out blindly for the sword that he used - the one that had never failed him before, taking ahold of it, he looked at it, and, without hesitation, flung it in the shield. _

_The sword penetrated the shield, glowing green, and disappeared to the bottom of the pit to meld with the pit itself and ensure that Chapulan would not walk free any more. By now, White could fast the blood in his mouth, the sweat that poured down his face, dripping down his chin, yet he didn't stop. Looking down the pit, he closed his eyes briefly - they opened suddenly and flashed green once more. _

_And, just like that, his body faded into dust, scattering all over the pit, sealing it for good._


	17. Рапид

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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Chapter 16:  
8-year-old Elizabeth "Beth" Osmond looked down on her paint supplies. Her parents had gotten it for her once they realised her potential for being a Seer, more than themselves, and had taken to listening to her different interpretations in the future. Right now, the A3 piece of paper that lay in front of her was the last of the others. The other ones before had contained portraits of other from the White bloodline.

She flicked through them idly, yet carefully. The first was a picture of Dante White - his uniform tattered, eyes glowing green, mangled leather melded with hands, hair covered with blood. Yet his hand glowed green as well. The second one was of one that looked similar, his dark hair and bright green eyes evident even through the darkness of the portrait. The third wasn't even close to being finished, but the definite features sketched out were the bright green eyes surprisingly sharp face. The fourth was of two people - one female, the other male. Their similar green eyes would make any think that they were siblings, but it was not the case.

Finally settling on the last one, she stared intently at it.

A 16-year-old boy. His hazel-green eyes were gleaming fiercely in his tanned face, streaked with ash and dirt. His former light brown hair was also darkened by soot, while his clothes were burnt at the ends. His hands were glowing green, and he suddenly looked so much like Dante White before his death that Beth immediately hid it behind the rest.

He was a good friend of her's…she wouldn't want him to meet the same fate as White had.

The doorbell rung, and Beth heard her parents go and answer the door, allowing whoever it was outside in. Footsteps echoed from the corridor, and Beth looked up in time to see Diego and some other people she couldn't care about appear.

One of them, a fat one, frowned. "She's eight."

Beth opened her mouth to answer indignantly, but Diego beat her to it. "And she's one of the best Seers I know. Children are usually more powerful in this case than adults, because their control is weaker, so their powers are stronger."

Shrugging at that description, Beth took out a painting. She had already prepared for this, and had spent the whole evening trying to locate where Diego's half-siblings and sister was. Diego took the painting, examining it closely, brow furrowed. One of the adults looked down at her. "How do you know her?"

Diego's answer was distracted as he tried to find out where the place was. Beth had drawn the place, but she didn't know the name of the place. Or the exact location. That was for Diego to find out. "She often has playdates with Mia."

"Your half-sister?" one of them asked, and Beth nodded soundlessly for Diego, who was frowning at the picture.

He _had_ seen it before, he knew he had. He just know where and when. Scowling at the picture, he finally gave it to Rex and Granny. "Look familiar to any of you? I _know_ it, I just can't remember where."

The picture was surprisingly simple. A lush forest, and something that resembled a large house was evident. There was no telling where the place was, but it was evident that there was a prison of some sort down there, as there was a trapdoor nearby. Blue skies were the background that they could see, but, other than that, there was no evidence of where the place might be.

Sid peered at the corner of the paper and laughed. "What's with that?"

Diego's sharp eyes caught where he was looking at, and his eyes widened. "It's in the land of the Fae."

* * *

Dillon looked around, eyes sharp as he noticed everyone there. The Council was supposedly a privilege for those who served it, but Dillon didn't see it that way. He scowled at some of the members, looking towards and doors and wondering where the heck the incompetent Head was. For all that his ancestors had done, Rudy was an absolute disaster, doing things to satiate his bloodlust and taking advantage of his position in order to do whatever he felt like doing.

The only other person glaring at Rudy was Buck, who was an Elf representative. Shortly after joining the council about two centuries ago, Dillon had the fortune of meeting Buck. Although to some Buck may seem rude and blunt, Dillon soon realised that it was just his way of talking - for someone in his position, he couldn't afford to waste time, and therefore counted every second used or wasted. But, at some times, Dillon wondered how the crazy Elf ever managed to get promoted to become a representative on the Council.

Rudy and Buck had started off rocky - Rudy being the impetuous Sidhe who had taken over the Council, while Buck was the well-meaning yet extremely blunt Elf that had no idea how to speak to higher-ups - and that hate had only grown as time had passed. In fact, Dillon presumed, he was the only reason that Rudy and Buck weren't openly declaring war.

Despite the Sidhe being more powerful and ancient, their numbers were few, their land small. The Elves weren't too different - they were surprisingly large in number, but they weren't as powerful as the Sidhe. However, the Fae were powerful, their land vast and resources rich. As well as that, Dillon was also extremely influential, with many contacts in many places. No one would risk trying to declare war with the Fae - they either weren't advanced enough, or their numbers were too few.

Rudy sauntered to his seat, sitting down while blinking lazily around the room. "What news is there?"

Dillon kept his mouth shut. He didn't dare that to say anything that might result in more chaos or accusations.

The Head's beady eyes swivelled on Dillon's emerald gaze, and, leaning forward like a predator, grinned wickedly. Dillon kept his gaze on the Head, unwavering even under the Head's intense scrutiny. One rule with Rudy - break eye contact first, and you'll become the prey. Keep it up, and you might become the predator. "Do you have anything to share, Reginald?"

Dillon shook his head, mustering up a pleasant smile. He took a wild gamble - the Council would surely know about this, right? He watched Marina, the Median of the Council, look at him, her gaze cold. Marina could tell truth from lie…and there was something that told him that Marina was in cahoots with Rudy. "Nothing the Council doesn't already know about."

He watched with satisfaction as Marina gave Rudy a discreet yet somehow grudging nod. Rudy glared at Dillon, who smiled back. _Kill them with sweetness._

Rudy growled low in his throat, but it was quickly echoed by Buck, who was toying with his dagger. One eye was glaring at Rudy. Rudy took the message, and backed down.

After going on for about half an hour, the Council finally dispersed, Dillon flying quickly over everyone's heads in order to find Buck, snatch him up, and drag him to a secluded area. Buck struggled violently at first, before finally noticing that they were no longer on the ground, and were soaring up in the air. "Good grief, mate, you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

Dillon let out a laugh. "You never know." his expression turned sombre, and Buck frowned.

"What is it?"

Dillon wasted no time, knowing it would not be appreciated. He lowered his voice, beckoning for Buck to lean in closer. "Solomon Chapulan's no longer in the pit."

"What?!" Buck exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. He had only heard of the tales of this colossus and how Dante White had used his life-essence in order to ensure that Chapulan would never walk out in the sunshine again. "How?"

"Over a hundred assassins went missing suddenly. I went to the pit myself. It was completely empty. Chapulan wasn't there."

"But the Council would've notified-" Buck's eyes widened as he realised what was going on. "No. Not even Rudy is so stupid to try and release him."

Dillon shook his head. "I don't think so, but I think they know he's been missing. I took an educated guess just now - you know."

Buck frowned. "But they can't risk Chapulan running around, can they?"

Dillon shook his head again. "I don't think Chapulan's loose. I think someone's keeping him inside somewhere."

"Well, they've got a death wish." Buck scowled. "When I get my hands on them…"

"You won't do anything." Dillon interjected quickly. "Because you're going to help me find what's going on here. Chapulan does not suddenly go loose for no reason, and the Council does not just ignore this sort of thing."

Buck shot him a sceptical look. "You sure, mate?"

"Positive." Dillon nodded. "You in?"

Buck grinned his signature grin - the one that stated he was about to do something completely crazy and out of both worlds. "'Course I'm in. Someone's gotta have your back, right?"

* * *

Diana woke up abruptly. Thanks to their bodies and the food regularly given to them, she could roughly estimate when it was night and when it was day. Everyone else was already asleep. Diana looked at the steel door, frowning at the absolute darkness. She waited for a while for her light blue eyes to adjust to darkness, and then looked around.

Almost no light.

Dammit.

Struggling to her feet, Diana panicked for a moment, before realising that Mia had slept next to Elena last night. Standing up, she looked around. She needed to get out. But her magic wouldn't work…so what to do?

Looking around, Diana thought carefully - and realised something. She nearly smacked herself on the head for not realising it earlier. The air in the room, though musty, wasn't still. The doors were all carefully sealed, the walls fitted perfectly - there must be a vent or something that allowed the air to flow more naturally, or they would've all died by now.

Closing her eyes, Diana tried hard to block out the sounds of breathing…and abruptly realised that there was a faint whirring sound. Not noticeable when everyone was awake or if she didn't know what she was looking for, but there nonetheless. It was near…the door. Moving around carefully, Diana stumbled over to the vent, careful of the darker shadows sprawled on the ground.

She felt the wall. It was all smooth.

But…

Knocking on the wall lightly, Diana pressed her ear to it, knocking and knocking. The wall was completely solid. But how?

She cursed and slumped down. The air was musty, but not stale. There must be something that could actually be of use. Scowling at herself, Diana reached and banged on the wall in frustration, forgetting everyone there. A sharp _clang_ filled the room, and Diana's eyes widened. By complete accident, she found where the place was. She knocked again. _Clang_.

She felt the smooth metal and cursed once more. There was no way to get out. Unless…she looked down at her shoes. Impractical - it was a surprise that their abductors didn't think of taking off her shoes. Grinning, she took off her heels. Looking to see wide eyes staring back at her, she jumped, clutching her heart. "_Don't_ do that!"

Silent laughter greeted her words.

"What're you doing, Diana?" Elena squinted in the dark.

"Finding a way out." Diana answered curtly. "Now cover your ears. This is gonna be painful." Taking her advice, everyone covered their ears, before Diana rammed the heel into the wall.

_SCREEEEECH_!

Diana flinched from the sound, and waited. No one came running. That was strange. But she wasn't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth, and continued on, before she heard a creak. The metal was breaking. She felt the dents left in there, and pulled out the thin metal, looking to find a ventilator of some sort. Diana smirked.

Behind the ventilator was another thin metal wall that was glowing.

And she was positive the glowing thing was the thing that was blocking their powers.


	18. त ज

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: And here's the next chapter. Huge HUGE thanks to IceAge Mutant and NerdyAnimeGirl23 for reviewing! Your reviews really mean a lot to me...I hope the rest of the story does not disappoint!**

* * *

Chapter 17:  
Diego looked at his friends, all looking at him so trustingly, while he himself did not know if he would ever perfect the spell needed to send them to the Other world. Even then, he had told his friends that if he _did_ succeed, there was every chance that he would end up transporting them into the Witches' land, since that, in a way, was his 'homeland'.

If it had been Manny or Ellie or Sid or the twins or Caroline or Granny, it would've been fine since they were either dæmon-hunters themselves or children of Dæmon-hunters, but with Shira and Diego and Rex? That would be disastrous.

Eventually, they agreed on trying. Diego looked out the window. After the hectic night they just had, the sun was already beginning to rise. He cursed. They had spent too much time resting at Beth's house. Three hours. He made some mental calculations. Not eight hours ago, near ten at night, they had received the call. That meant that they had already wasted a lot of time, and only had about 66 hours left.

If he tried to calculate the time needed to escape from the Witches' land, which could take up to 24 hours, maybe more, they would be left with roughly 36 hours left. And then they would have to find a way to travel to the Fae land. If they travelled by sea, they could possibly end up being killed by the mermaids (the children of the dæmon-hunters had had trouble believing that).

But if they travelled by land, they would have to cross the Spirits' and Fairies' land before making it to the border of the Fae land. That would take approximately another 24 hours…or more. And that was not counting the time spent to try and get Diana and the rest out, and then finding a way out themselves without getting themselves killed.

Diego sighed. And that was if it all went according to plan - which most often, it did not. It would only kill his head thinking about it. Shira slid down to the seat next to him. "You ok?"

The Witch laughed. "Sure. Fine. Thinking about how much time we have left and if we're ever going to make it."

"Hey, it'll be fine."

Diego looked at her flatly. "We need to cross the Witches' land, which will take about a day, maybe more. And then we need to find a way to get to the Fae's land, either through the Spirits' and Fairies' land or through the sea, which is where the mermaids will kill us. And that's not even counting the time that it'll take to locate exactly where Diana and the others are being held. Have you ever seen how big the Fae land is? It's like the Russia of the Other world. And we also have to worry about protecting the others, since they're pretty much hopeless but we can't leave them there."

Shira laughed, though it sounded nervous. "You're overthinking this."

"I'm really not."

"It'll be fine." Shira promised. "You'll see." But inwardly, Shira had no idea what to expect. Diego and her parents were her only source of and from the Other world - they knew more about it than she did. And from what she saw, Diego clearly knew more about it then her parents cared to let on.

Diego was known as unflinching - for Devil's sake, he went up against several men who had magic alone, and escaped unscathed. But he had a point. The Other world was foreign to every one of them. The people there weren't ordinary people, who could easily be swiped down with magic. No, they were trained, probably even lethal people, who would not hesitate to kill them if they showed any signs of aggression.

Shira pulled her knees up to her chest, looking out the window worriedly.

"Are _you_ ok?" Diego asked, turning to her.

"I don't know." Shira murmured. "It reminds me of diving into a lion pit while being blindfolded and expected to get out."

Diego barked a laugh at that expression, before his expression turned sombre. "We need to be careful." he looked out, eyes narrowing in contemplation. "Shira, there's something I need to tell you, about back there, when Manny's parents and your mom went missing."

Shira straightened. "I'm listening."

"Have you…" Diego hesitated. "Have you ever heard of Giants? Trolls?"

"No duh." Shira frowned.

Diego turned to her, green eyes troubled. "I got a faint trace of magic at the end of the neighbourhood. And I think that it's something along the combination of that that attacked the three."

Shira narrowed her eyes at him, examining him closely. "That's not just it."

Diego let out a sigh. "No. But I'm hoping it's not true. Not yet. Because if it is…" he stood, and offered her a hand. She took it, pulling herself up, all the while looking at him curiously. He finished. "Because if it is…then we're all in big trouble."

* * *

Manny eyed Diego curiously. Even after cleaning up, Diego still had that ragged haunted look about him, his bright green eyes darting about everywhere. Manny honestly couldn't blame him - after all, the poor guy's been hunted down by people he didn't know, found out that his sister was kidnapped, along with his half-siblings and his 6-year-old half-sister, found out that the Council might've been responsible for his grandfather and great-aunt's death, and even now, he was told to go to the Witches' land, where Dæmon-hunters were.

It was kinda a lot to take in.

But, to be fair, it was also pretty much to take in for the children of the Dæmon-hunters. After all, Manny's parents and Shira's mother was gone - most probably taken by the same people that had taken Diana and her half-siblings. And if Diego was right about the Council getting involved, then…Manny winced. That would not end well for them.

Manny took in a deep breath.

Not counting the limited time they had - even with Diego, the most powerful Witch Manny knew (actually, the _only_ Witch Manny knew), Sid's granny - an experienced Dæmon-hunter and Shira's father - a median, Manny wasn't sure what the outcome would be, but he had a bad feeling that it wouldn't be one that they all liked.

"Hey." Ellie moved to sit beside him, both her brothers in tow as they silently plopped down. Sid, for once quiet, sat on Manny's other side. "How're you holding up?"

"Not good, that's for sure." Manny muttered, sighing.

He looked up as Diego and Shira approached. Behind Manny, the adults also rose to their feet. Hazel-green eyes were weary as their owner nodded at the small group before turning to the three occupants of the house. "Thanks for having us."

The mother nodded. "Be safe."

"Diego." said person turned to meet Beth. "Tell Mia I want to see her again after this."

Diego let out a small smile. "I'll be sure to pass on the message."

Beth nodded, and then turned and walked to her room, closing the door.

Diego turned to the others. "Ready?"

Sid's granny sighed. "Hurry up already. The more time we spend wasting, the less time your family will have."

Caroline glanced at Granny sharply. "Gloria!"

Diego shook his head. "Never mind." his eyes glowed green, and Shira had a brief flashback of it happening back when they were in their Sophomore year, during detention, when they had distracted the teacher. His hands moved on their own accord, before a sharp blast of wind inwards had them sprawling out and falling on the ground - now hard and rocky.

Shira groaned as she rubbed her head. "No softer landing?"

Diego grinned as he pushed himself off the ground. "Just be thankful we didn't fall from over ten feet above." his expression turned serious as he looked around.

"Where are we?" Sid asked.

"In the Outlands. Close enough to the Witches' land that we can travel by foot and will reach there within a few minutes. But far enough that their trackers won't instantly pick up our scents."

"Scents?" Eddie frowned. "Do we really smell that bad?" The twins started sniffing themselves.

Diego rolled his eyes. "Not you, idiots. Us. Shira, her dad, and me. As long as we're not human or Dæmon-hunters, they'll find us and try to kill us."

"Dammit." Manny frowned. The only reason most of them were alive were because of Diego's magic. Without it, they probably would've died. Diego seemed to sense his thoughts as he shook his head.

"I can't use magic here. They've prohibited it forcefully."

"Forcefully?" Ellie asked, frowning.

"Using barriers. These barriers prevent anyone from using magic within them." Diego looked around anxiously. "We'd better go." He considered something briefly. "If we don't make it in time." he closed his hand and then opened them, revealing three coins lying in his palm. "You guys are more likely to reach there before us. Once you get there, try to find three living animals. Anything, a bull, a cat, even an insect. Put these on them, and we'll be replaced with them."

"What if you get there before you?"

Diego nodded to the coins as he handed them to Manny. "I'll track you using the coins and open a portal as soon as I can. It'll be harder the closer you are to the Dæmon-hunter's capital, but I should be able to pull it off." his gaze turned worried. "But, if we are running out of time, you guys go and find Diana and the others. We'll make our own way there."

Manny frowned. "How're we going to find them in the whole of the Fae land?"

Diego sucked in his cheeks as he briefly mulled this over. "Go to the Fae castle." he seemed to hesitate here. "Find the Fae monarch, Dillon Reginald. He'll be able to help you the best. He's part of the Council, but he's not one of the corrupt. That I'm sure of." another hesitation. "If you have trouble trying to get in, tell them 'Acci Ventigan'. They'll bring you to see him. If Reginald doesn't listen to you, tell him 'Solomon Chapulan'. He'll be certain to listen."

Rex had turned pale. "Chapulan?"

Diego's expression was grim as Shira stared, confused. "I hope not."

Granny hefted her gun onto her frail shoulder. "I'm with you on that one. Make sure you don't get killed."

Diego let out a smirk. "Why, it sounds like you care."

Granny's expression hardened. "Don't push your luck, hag." With that, she turned and led them away. Diego shook his head and let out a sigh before looking at the two of them.

"So, go down or around?"

* * *

_Frederick Mason smiled good-heartedly at his wife's scolding before walking to where someone was knocking on the door. He opened it, raising a brow at his best friend, standing at the doorstep with someone who could pass off as his twin sister standing next to him. "Dhrym? What're you doing here?" _

_"I need you." Dhrym said, face serious. "There's something I need to check, and I need you for it." _

_"You already have…her." Frederick said, though he could already feeling adrenaline starting to pump through his body. And he knew that Dhrym knew that. _

_"Yep. Don't know why we need you." The girl rolled her eyes. Her arms were crossed and her green eyes were glaring at him. _

_"Because he's a dæmon-hunter. We can't get by without him." Dhrym said patiently. Frederick could tell that Dhrym was used to this girl's short tempers. _

_"And who is this?" He asked. _

_"Dhya, Frederick." Dhrym introduced. "Frederick, Dhya. Rick, this is my twin sister." _

_"Explains the resemblance. Is she like you?" _

_"If by like me you mean she's an Elf and by resemblance you mean she's a White, then yes." Dhrym shrugged. "Listen, you in or not? If you're not, it's best if we don't tell you."_

_"Is it important?" Frederick asked, instantly on guard. He was flattered that Dhrym would need his help and trust him so explicitly. _

_Dhrym licked his lips, lowering his voice. His eyes glowed green as he spoke. "It has to do with the Council. I need to check something out. I already have someone in there, I just need to get in there." _

_Frederick considered his options. "You want to get in through the Witches' Land?" _

_"Exactly." Dhya said. Frederick noted absent-mindedly that she was British, which struck him as odd considering Dhyrm sounded and (to his knowledge) _was_ an American. _

_"I'm just going to be in and out?" _

_Dhrym shrugged. "If everything goes to plan, yes." _

_"Nothing ever goes to plan." _

_"Well then," Dhya drawled, a smirk on her lips. "Bring your gun."_


	19. iute

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: Personally, I'm not sure how satisfied I am with this chapter...but I have no idea how to change it, so...enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 18:  
Manny sighed as he crawled through the barren land. As he looked around, he could tell from the dead shrivelled plants that this had once been a fertile land with many plants, but time with the Dæmon-hunters had reduced the land to nothing. For once, even though he himself was a child of Dæmon-hunters and technically a Dæmon-hunter himself, he hated the Dæmon-hunters.

Dæmon-hunters were patrolling the area. _As expected_, Manny sighed. Obviously, after their one victory against the Other World, they would be desperate not to let it fall back into the hands of the Witches or others. He moved when Granny gestured for them to do so. Even though Granny was old, she was _good_, Manny had to admit that. She moved with the energy of someone half her age.

But no. He shook his head to remove the thought and focus at the task on hand. Manny froze and gritted his teeth as there came a sharp voice. "Halt!"

Granny growled but turned, a cross expression on her face. "What?"

"What are you doing here?"

Granny crossed her arms. "What do you think? Passing over here."

"Why?" Them man didn't seem too impressed.

"Because I'm teaching them how to hunt for Dæmons, idiot!" Granny returned the expression.

"Then what is she doing here?" the man pointed at Caroline.

"Are you an idiot?! You want me to handle god-knows how many children at once in the Other World? You're crazy!"

"Why do they look like this?"

Granny humphed. "Who wouldn't look like this while sleeping and hunting in the Outlands?"

The man frowned, but there was no more poking at holes. "Can I check you to make sure that there's no spell on you?"

"You don't trust a fellow Dæmon-hunter?!" Granny snapped.

"Just!" The man scowled back.

"Fine." Granny turned her back on him. "Just don't blame us when you find nothing and are taken for a fool."

The man pulled out some sort of pole that bent to become a sort of ring. He made it bigger for Manny first, and then put it to smaller from Granny. This happened for some time until it was Sid's turn. When the hoop reached Sid's neck, there was a sort of beeping sound, which suddenly became quiet as soon as it had started. The man looked at Sid suspiciously while looking a tad smug.

He reached into Sid's shirt and pulled out a sort of chain with a coin with a hole in it. "And what is this?"

Granny immediately pulled the chain back. "It was a gift from his grandfather!"

"And who was that?" The man snorted.

"Frederick Mason." Granny replied frostily.

The man froze for a second. Manny had no idea why. He looked at Sid, who looked half-petrified and half-confused. "I-I-I'm sorry, ma'am. Yo-You-You're his wife. Gloria Mason."

"Yes." Granny snapped.

"I'm sorry ma'am." The man stuttered. "Please proceed."

Granny haughtily shoved him aside as she made her way deeper in. Manny followed how, grinning as Sid took the necklace from his granny. Good thing that Granny was well-known. Though Manny didn't actually know how.

* * *

Diana quickly stopped, and waited. No sound. That was odd. She reached in and grabbed the glowing thing. It was extremely cold to touch, and she dropped it back in the hole-thing she made with her shoe. She growled as she tore part of her skirt off. She covered her hand with it and then grabbed the stone. The stone thing was still cold, but not as much as before.

She looked at it carefully and beckoned to Elena. Elena and Melanie approached, looking at it over. Melanie frowned at it. "Smash it."

"What if the powers go everywhere?"

"They will recognise their owner." Melanie sounded confident. "And the room is sealed. They won't go anywhere."

"I hope so." Diana prayed. She closed her eyes before flinging the orb to the ground. The orb glowed for a second, before bright bursts of energy sprang from it, immediately zipping over to their owners. Diana smiled as she once again connected to her magic, feeling the warmth of it spread through her veins. This was more like it.

She turned to the others. Mia was sitting up now, more wide awake. Diana smiled at her briefly before her expression turned serious. "We have to go now and find Di and the others."

* * *

Rex was having a hard time actually processing what was going on. He was currently with his daughter and his daughter's boyfriend (who scared him, not that he would ever admit that) trying to get through the Median's land to get to the Fae land to request help to try and locate said boyfriend's sister and twelve other half-siblings (Exactly how many half-siblings does someone _need_?), his own wife and his daughter's best friend's parents.

He knew how dangerous the Other world was - it was the whole reason he and Melanie ever went to the mortal world to live was to get away from all that. Granted, it was in their blood to survive at the Median land, but it became too dangerous when Shira was born and the ghouls and spirits started to hound after her. He shuddered, remembering just how close he and Melanie had been to losing Shira back in the mortal world.

Devil forbid, if he and Melanie had stayed at the Median land, Shira probably wouldn't even be alive then. He blinked back into reality when Diego waved a hand in front of his face. Rex turned to him, immediately on the alert. The Median land was quiet, but it wasn't unusual - it had to be night time here, and night time was when the ghouls and spirits haunted the streets.

Why they were even there during that time was beyond Rex.

They reached a junction of sorts, and Rex's eyes narrowed when he noticed several ghouls and spirits leisurely floating along and occasionally stopping to chat with another one. Shira shuddered, and Rex knew that she had seen it too.

Diego didn't even blink at them, and Rex felt a little smug that the Witch couldn't do what they could do. Call him petty, but he had been feeling pretty intimidated with what the boy could do, just at the age of 16 or 17. Who knew what he could do when he reached his prime?

With that thought in mind, Rex focused back on Diego, who was now heading to a building, sticking close to the shadows. He was surprisingly silent at what he did, and he hastened to follow when Shira got up as well. They moved for quite some time through the haunted city, and Rex felt like he could finally heave a sigh of relief when they reached the open countryside.

The ghouls could easily come here, but they weren't at all interested in the countryside, which made it an ideal place to live. Thankfully, not a lot of Medians lived here due to the fact that it was very inconvenient.

They settled down, sitting around in a circle. Rex turned to Diego, frowning. They had been walking for a few hours now and his feet hurt, but they needed to get out of the Median land as soon as possible. But then Diego turned to Shira, and Rex noticed how tired his daughter looked. He cursed mentally at not having noticed it.

Staying here was taking it's toll on Shira.

Shira straightened up. "Do any one of you happen to have tissue?"

Diego frowned at that, but stuck a hand in his pocket and came out with a pack of tissues. Shira let out a weary smile at that before she turned to leave, muttering "bathroom" under her breath.

Rex wanted to go follow her, but he respected her privacy. That and the fact that she would've clawed his eyes out. For a petite girl, she was surprisingly strong.

The Median turned to face the Witch. Diego was sitting there rather comfortably, no outward discontentment on his face.

"Are you alright?" Rex asked finally, just to break the awkward silence.

Diego shrugged. "About as fine as someone in my situation can be."

Rex studied Diego for a while. He had heard of the Whites before - they were a highly recognised bloodline, and he wondered how many people hadn't realised that Diego was one yet. The Whites generally stayed within their families and close friends. Diego didn't look anything like the Whites', with their compulsory dark hair and pale skin. But Diego did have the Whites' piercing green eyes. And the sheer amount of power he held.

Personally, Rex never liked history. But the Whites were a force to be reckoned with, and it was because of that that he remembered so much about the Whites. The second infamous White was named Dylan White, and he had been a Median, just like him.

Dylan White had invented the 'soul's snare', which could trap any soul and force them to tell them anything that the person wanted them to. This skill had been terrifying when first used, and few could truly master it. When Dylan was in his prime, about early thirties, he was assassinated. Many believed he had an illegitimate child, but it was never confirmed. Shortly after, the 'Soul's snare' was banned and made illegal by the Council.

Come to think of it, every single one of the recorded Whites' powers were either banned or abolished.

Suddenly, Diego's head shot up in alarm. He got to his feet and sprinted in the direction that Shira had disappeared off to. Rex immediately followed, a sense of foreboding in his mind. He reached a small clearing not too soon after, where Diego was frowning and clearly struggling against some sort of invisible barrier.

On the other side, Shira was being dragged into something by something or someone that they couldn't see. Rex narrowed his eyes, and noticed two ghouls, dragging Shira in. Their faces were alight with delight. Rex growled, easily passing the barrier as he made his way to the two ghouls. Both of them looked up at once. Rex focused on the one on the right, quickly sending him flying in the air.

The other ghoul hissed, but gasped in pain as Shira's eyes glowed silver and she kicked it in the groin. She then slammed her fist into the ghoul's face. The ghoul let go, stunned, and Shira sprinted backwards. Rex stood in front of her, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Shira had turned to stand next to Diego, whose eyes were narrowed.

Rex stared at the ghoul for a long time, before the ghoul screeched and lunged forward. Rex sidestepped, eyes glowing silver quickly. The ghoul let out a wail, and turned, eyes glowing as well. Claws sprouted from it's fingers, and gnarled leather wings forced it's way through it's back. Rex frowned. This was not good.

The ghoul was calling for more ghouls for reinforcements. If its friends came here, Rex wouldn't be able to stop all of them. He turned to Diego, who nodded.

Diego began to lead Shira in the opposite direction, his expression weary. Rex turned back to the ghoul, who was now leaping forward. Rex barely managed to dodge in time, before going to close his eyes to focus. He needed to think about Shira. How that ghoul and its friend had nearly dragged her beyond Rex and Melanie and any Median's reach.

His eyes glowed a brighter silver as he put out his hand, palm facing forward, at the ghoul. He clenched his hand into a fist, and the ghoul, screaming in agony, exploded. Rex collapsed onto the ground, trying to regain his breath. Taking out a ghoul like that always took a lot out of Medians.

He felt arms try to lift him, and he panicked for a second, thinking that the other ghouls had found him. But Shira's voice came to him, and he turned to realise that Shira and Diego were trying to lift him and get him going.

Rex closed his eyes for a second before standing up. They needed to get out of there.

* * *

Shira was petrified right now. Her father looked like he was going to collapse, and her boyfriend was completely useless in trying to fight the ghouls. And she herself didn't know how to disintegrate one like her father had.

She sighed as she quickened her pace. She turned back to her father. "What were they?"

Rex didn't answer for some time, still exhausted. Diego did, instead. "Those were some violent ghouls. They often attack Medians who are alone. Which is why we should stick together now."

Shira bit her tongue, barely refraining from snapping at Diego that he had been completely useless. It wasn't his fault. It was just that the stress was getting to her, especially now that her mother was also captured. She turned for a moment, frowning when she heard a shuffle. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Diego frowned, already on high alert.

The shuffling came again. "There!" Shira turned to run in that direction.

"And all my words go in one ear and out the other." Diego mumbled, quickly turning to Rex, who motioned for him to follow Shira.

Shira found herself alone in the dark, where a ghostly spectre of a child was crying. The child looked no more than five, and absolutely petrified. Shira kneeled in front of it. "Are you okay?"

The spectre looked up out of tearstained eyes. "I-"

"Shira!" Diego called her.

Shira turned to him, his eyes widening at the sight of the spectre. Strange, she didn't think that Diego would be able to see spirits.

"Shira," Diego said in a low voice. "Get away from that now."

"That?" Shira echoed. The child was just a girl. She was no harm. But she moved back quickly, only for the spectre to launch itself at Shira's arm. Shira backed away even more quickly, barely dodging it.

She sprinted towards Diego, who fired a blast at the spectre, who merely begin to cry again.

Diego took her hand and lead her away from the spectre. Shira took a chance to look back, and wished she hadn't. The child had been replaced with something ugly and grotesque that she couldn't bear to look at. She froze in fear, and Diego tugged desperately at her.

The spectre was coming closer, and when it was at arm's length, Diego fired off a desperate blast. The spectre frowned in annoyance, but Diego quickly snatched up Shira, tossing her over his shoulder before he continued to run. Shira shouted indignantly, but Diego didn't let her go until Rex was in sight. Rex looked much better now, but he looked alarmed at the sight he saw.

Diego turned to see the spectre getting ready to leap. He immediately threw himself at the ground.

The spectre leapt over him, and Rex closed his eyes, focusing once more before opening silver eyes. The spectre howled as it disappeared into the night. And then Rex collapsed.


	20. брз

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: And here's the next chapter! Writing this got me thinking - I have some things I still haven't explained and could continue to expand. Should I write another sequel?  
**

**Oh, and by the way, the Griffin's thing where only people who have 'seen death' can see it is based off the thestrals in Harry Potter. **

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Chapter 19:  
Rex slowly regained consciousness. He frowned as he looked around. Shira was sleeping soundly but Diego was on guard. Bright green eyes turned to meet Rex's blue ones. "How're you feeling?"

"I've been better." Rex groaned at the sore feeling. He knew he would get a splitting headache later.

"That's good. Shira's sleeping now. We're going to head out in about an hour or so."

"What happened again?"

"A spectre tried to bait Shira. We got away and you evaporated it." Diego leaned back. "I've never seen that before."

Rex rolled his neck. "Well, I couldn't let the spectre eat my daughter."

"Or drag her away?"

Rex shrugged. "Or that."

Shira stirred at that moment. She noticed Rex was awake, and tackled him. "Don't you ever collapse like that again."

Rex laughed at that. "You _do_ care."

Shira rolled his eyes. "You're just as bad as he is." It was obvious that she was referring to Diego. Diego laughed at that, before the mood turned sombre. "What was that just now?"

"A spectre." Rex sighed.

"Why did it try to attack me? It looked like a child."

Rex rubbed his eyes. "It was one of the reasons your mother and I left the Median land." At Shira's questioning look, Rex continued. "Median children under the age of six are very vulnerable. Spirits that would become your friend when you are older will start to hunt you. The spirit of a live Median child is too much for them. Which is why, until the child turns six, their parents lock the child away where the spirits can't touch them. That spectre was the spirit of a Median child taken before it turned six. It is bitter towards the world and Medians who have lived longer than it did."

Shira didn't say anything, just remained quiet. Diego dusted his pants off as he stood. "Now we got that over with and we're all awake, I suggest we get going."

* * *

Granny fired a shot at the Median that was chasing them. They had reached the Witches' border no problem. They had managed to get close to the Fae's border, no problem. But then her idiot of a grandson decided to start singing and alert the Medians of their presence.

Now, Granny loved her grandson - it was the only reason he was still alive and in one piece. But he had been beyond stupid, and his screaming (which sounded like a girl's) was not helping their situation. Yelling at him to shut up, she fired another two shots that hit their mark before bringing up the rear of the group away. Caroline was making her way to the Fae border, closely followed by the children.

Granny dodged something that she could feel was a spirit, before turning and firing several more shots before turning to disappear into the Fae border.

As soon as they were safe, she thanked her lucky stars and Frederick, before turning to her grandson. She smacked him on the head and turned to lead them further on in. It had taken them longer than necessary to get to the border due to the Medians being alerted and them needing to go on a detour. They had been separated from the other three for about twenty hours now, and the sun was beginning to rise.

That wasn't good.

She suggested for them to take a break while she scouted the area. There was no sign that a Witch or Median/s have been here, which meant that either the Witch had somehow managed to take them into the border in the complete opposite direction or they had not even arrived yet.

That did not bode well for either of them. Truth be told, she was more comforted if the Witch was with them. The Witch was annoying, but he was powerful and got the job done. Her grandson should learn more from him.

Granny headed back to the group. "Nothing so far. Let's go."

* * *

Rex brightened up suddenly as he heard a noise. His daughter clung to his arm, but Rex gently shook it off. He looked forward. There was a Griffin there. Perfect.

"Is that a Griffin?"

Diego's voice startled him. He forgot that anyone who had experienced death could see the Griffin.

"Yep." Rex nodded.

"You're not seriously planning to-"

Rex nodded. "Yep." He looked at his daughter, who was looking confused. Dammit. He forgot that she couldn't see the Griffin due to the fact that she had not witnessed death before. It was usually a good thing, but not in this scenario. "Listen, Shira. There is a Griffin in front of us. I'm going to gain control of it, and Diego is going to help you get onto its back, got it?"

Shira nodded hesitantly, turning to Diego. "Why can't I see it?"

Diego frowned. "Because you haven't witnessed death."

"I saw Zeke's death."

"You saw his corpse, not how he died. Different things."

Shira huffed. "You saw death?"

Diego's lips thinned for a moment. "Maybe." With that, he led her next to the Griffin, who was staring at them curiously. Rex closed his eyes and tried to gain control of the Griffin. The Griffin struggled feebly, but Rex managed to secure its mind and then hopped on behind Shira, who was behind Diego.

The Griffin took off with a deafening screech.

At least now they wouldn't need to worry about ghouls chasing them.

* * *

Granny turned her head at the screech. They had been wandering around for nearly three hours, and she was growing more and more frustrated by the second. She had tried to summon the three with the coins, but her idiotic grandson's friend had lost them. Why she didn't insist on keeping them herself she didn't know.

And then her face brightened.

A Griffin was flying to them. She noticed the children looking confused at where the screech came from, but Caroline's eyes brightened. A figure leapt down from the griffin, carrying another one. The third one dropped as soon as the other two were on the ground.

They sprinted to the group.

"What took you guys so long?" Granny demanded.

Diego frowned. "We got held up. A spectre and some hostile ghouls."

Granny rolled her eyes. "You should've dealt with them quickly. Now come on, we've just wasted a whole day. And we still need to locate Diana and the others after finding the Fae Monarchy."

At that moment, a sharp "halt!" was heard, and they turned. Diego immediately formed a shield around them, causing someone to slam into them and fall to the ground. Granny's eyes widened. Dammit. It was the Fae border guard. She hadn't heard them - she was too immersed in the conversation. She was slipping. They must've also heard the Griffin screech.

She quickly slammed her mind's walls, thanking the years of training she had. The Faes were known as telekinetic and telepaths. They would try to get them this way. The children fell first. Rex took a bit longer, followed by Caroline. Diego and her managed to last the longest, but it didn't take long for the Fae, who outnumbered them and had the advantage of flight, to take them out as well.

* * *

Diego groaned as he woke up in his cell. He looked around. He was in an isolated cell away from the others. He knew he was on the same floor as them as he heard them mumbling in low voices.

He frowned, and realised that he was shackled. Thankfully there was no absorber to cut off his magic - after all, the Faes were also affected by it and had a strict law that they adhered to. They were only allowed to use them in the event of murder or emergency. Several Dæmon-hunters, two Medians and one Witch must've just been something strange but not at all an emergency.

The Witch leaned out. Two guards were standing in front of his cell. They must be reading his thoughts to make sure he didn't do anything dangerous. He could feel the rubble of his mind walls, and knew that the two guards in front of him had tried to read his thoughts.

Thank goodness his sister had the foresight to teach him how to lock thoughts away.

His eyes flashed, and he felt the shackles melting in his wrists. He frowned. That was almost too easy. Ah well. He wasn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. The guards immediately turned, and Diego felt a stabbing pain in his head. He closed his eyes, trying to focus. The guards had no idea who they were up against, and Diego nearly felt sorry for them. His magic, sensing the intruder, reacted instinctively.

There was a quiet blast of green light, and the guards collapsed silently.

Diego smirked and got out of the cell, carefully melting the bars to form a hole and get through. He looked around. He didn't know where the others were, and he had to act quickly if he wanted to save his sister. Getting Dillon here to sort out this mess was his first priority. He slipped out silently. He had to work quickly - he didn't have the time to rebuild his mental walls and wouldn't stand a chance against another Fae. He peeked out of the room his cell had been in.

Not a lot of people were flying around, which was odd. The Fae were generally very busy people.

He snuck past the guard with a flash of bright green and looked out, eyes darting this way and that. Muttering under his breath, his eyes flashed a bright green once more before he felt himself turn invisible. It was an odd feeling - as if you were underwater. He made his way around the other Fae (easy considering most of them flew).

And then Diego crashed into another person. Except this person stopped him without lifting a finger. He struggled desperately.

Dammit.

He looked up.

Bloody hell.

Trapped now.

Glaring down at him was Dillon's older sister, Sylvia Reginald.

* * *

Sylvia was flying down a corridor heading to her room for the daily hour of peace she had in her busy schedule when she felt an unfamiliar presence. Normally, she wouldn't give this much thought, considering that there were countless new servants and that a newcomer could've been brought. No. What drove her to actively search for this presence was the fact that although the presence was unfamiliar, it had a touch of something she couldn't place but she knew she knew.

And now, with the guards reporting the capture of a Witch (a White, one of them had guessed), two Medians and seven Dæmon-hunters, she knew she had to be extra-alert. After all, she had a name to live up to.

Her head snapped up when she felt that presence once more. He or she was closer now. In fact, they weren't even flying. Sylvia stopped mid-flight, eyes closing as she blocked all presence of the Faes and focused on locating the presence. It was heading in her direction now. And they weren't even flying. They were walking.

She opened her eyes. _It must be the Witch or the Medians._

Looking around, she caught ahold of the mind, and using it, sent an invisible figure slamming into the wall. She smirked triumphantly but quickly put on a blank facade. "Show yourself."

There was no reaction for a few seconds. Sylvia was about to probe this person's mind when the person turned visible again. Light brown hair, tanned skin, sharp teeth and…sharp bright green eyes that looked so much like…she frowned. Dillon's. That wasn't right. She had heard of the Whites' shared resemblance trait, but Dillon wasn't a White. He was a Reginald. Why in the Council's name would he have eyes like that? Never mind. She had to focus on the task at hand and find out later.

"What's your name, boy?" she hissed. Despite that startling revelation, he was still sneaking around in the castle without permission.

He didn't answer.

Sylvia scowled. "I said,_ what. Is. You. Name_."

The boy hissed as the invisible hand around him grew tighter. "Diego." he hissed out of gritted teeth. "Diego Bennett."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes. The boy was telling the truth, but not all of it. But he told some truth, so she continued on her interrogation. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for someone." he said plainly.

"Who?" Sylvia demanded.

"You don't need to know."

"_Who_?" Sylvia demanded again. "If you don't tell me, I will crush the life out of your body."

Servants were fluttering by, ignoring the odd spectacle as if something like this happened everyday. It probably did, Diego thought, what with Dillon and Sylvia as part of its Monarchy. Again, there was a few seconds of hesitation that made Sylvia begin her careful probe into his mind. She did not know what mental attacks or defences he had yet, so caution was everything.

"I'm looking for Dillon Reginald." Diego stated suddenly.

Sylvia quickly hid her surprise. What in Reginald's name was this boy looking for Dillon for? "What do you want with Dillon Reginald?"

"I need to talk to him."

"About what?" Sylvia demanded once again. This boy was making no sense whatsoever.

Diego seemed conflicted, but there was no budging. Sylvia prepared herself to go into the boy's head again. And she did. She entered the boy's mind, scanning every memory quickly, fiercely, without mercy. If this boy was going to be of any threat to her brother, she needed to know and take him out quickly. She ignored the startled chocking and gasping from Diego as his eyes widened and flashed green.

Tendrils of magic suddenly burst forth and sent Sylvia skidding to the floor. She got up, scowling. "You dare!"

Diego looked up. His whole face was a paper white, and Sylvia got the impression that she had stunned him. Or something inside his mind had. "I-I-"

"What are you?" Sylvia demanded. She already knew, but she needed confirmation. Only one kind can take her by surprise like that while she was reading their mind, and it was because they themselves did not know about it.

"Witch." Diego gasped out, chest still heaving for breath.

Sylvia frowned. She couldn't have traumatised him so much, could she? "What are you here for?"

"I need to talk to Dillon." He repeated.

Why was he on first-name basis with her brother? Her brother couldn't be collaborating with a Witch, could he? "What about?" She asked forcefully.

Diego looked at her. He said something so quietly she couldn't pick up on it.

"Louder." She demanded.

"Chapulan. Solomon Chapulan."

Sylvia gasped and backed away as if slapped. Her blood turned to ice. That couldn't be possible. That just-wait. Didn't Dillon say he was going out to follow a lead? Her mind was clicking conclusions faster than possible. "No."

"I need to _know_." Diego persisted.

"Why?"

Diego leaned back. "Tell me. Please. Did Dillon go and try to find Solomon Chapulan?"

Sylvia closed her eyes. "Yes."

"No." Diego whispered. "You have to call him back."

"Dillon shouldn't revolve his life around yours."

"He'll get hurt. Solomon Chapulan can-"

"Dillon can take care of himself." Sylvia said firmly.

"You don't understand." Diego whispered. "He'll die." **  
**


	21. ர ப ட

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: And here's the next chapter...just a few more to go. Should I make a sequel?**

**And speaking of sequels...ICE AGE 5 IS COMING OUT...just rewatched the trailer yesterday. Hopefully there'll be more Shira/Diego in the movie than in the trailer. I looked up the characters, and I went: WAIT, PEACHES HAS A FIANCÉ?! What happened to Ethan or, more importantly, Louis?! **

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 20:  
Manny looked up as the cells opened and they were lead out by emotionless Fae guards. Diego was standing there with his arms looking quite pale. A beautiful woman stood next to him, translucent wings fluttering nervously. Her expression was cool, but there was a nervousness in her movements.

"What happened?"

"This is Sylvia Reginald. She's a part of the Fae monarchy." Diego introduced absent-mindedly.

"Wait. Where's Dillon?" Granny asked, glaring at the lady. She knew exactly who Dillon was (what Dæmon-hunter didn't?) and could easily guess who the lady hovering in the air was. It wasn't very hard, exactly. Just take one look at her haughty expression and robes and you instantly knew you were talking to royalty.

"He's gone." Diego murmured. "We need to find him and get him back. Now."

"Why?" Sylvia demanded. "I've released your friends. You agreed to tell me."

"Chapulan was killed with White's life force. Dillon doesn't stand a chance if Chapulan is rising."

"Chapulan?" Granny whispered. "Gods above."

"Who's Chapulan?" Manny asked, frowning. The other two were still talking.

"He is merely following a lead. He's not going to combat Chapulan."

Granny looked at him. "Chapulan is an embodiment of magic. The Council tried, a long time ago, to create a being of magic. One that could work for them and get any rebellions or any traitors out. But it backfired, and Chapulan attacked them instead, destroying nearly a third of the Other world before Dante White tracked him down and slowed him, defeating him and imprisoning Chapulan with his own life."

"No." Diego corrected. "If he's following up on a lead, he is going to face Chapulan at some time."

"Chapulan," Sylvia said forcefully, "Was jailed by White, as you said. He has nothing to fear. Chapulan is locked up."

"Not anymore." Diego murmured. "Someone released him."

"Uh, Diego?" Ellie piped up. "What about your siblings?"

"What siblings?" Sylvia's head snapped to her.

Sensing Diego wasn't going to answer, Ellie answered timidly. "Uh, his siblings. They were captured by someone and held for ransom. If we don't hand Diego over in 72 hours, they'll kill his siblings. Uh, your majesty."

Sylvia's eyes sharpened as she glanced at Diego. "What game are you playing here, boy? Are you here to get my brother to help you or are you trying to save him?"

Diego rubbed his temples. "It's complicated. It just got a lot complicated. We need to get Dillon."

"But Diego, your family-"

"It doesn't matter." Diego snapped. "We have Sylvia."

"Excuse me?" Sylvia asked indignantly.

"You can track down my siblings. We've already established that they are somewhere in the Fae land, but we don't know where." Diego said, distracted. "You guys get my siblings. I need to go and find Dillon."

"Why?" Sylvia demanded. "You have stormed in here, told me my brother was going to die, and now you're demanding I help you find your siblings without justifiable cause. I have every right to keep you in prison."

"Unless you want your brother to die, you'll help me." Diego crossed his arms.

"You don't get to play that card." Sylvia snapped. "Your siblings can die for all I care. But if something happens to Dillon, the Fae monarchy collapses."

"No, the Fae monarchy collapses if both of you are dead without an heir. Which you don't have right now. I can get to Dillon. It'll be easier if I do it myself. You guys settle my siblings."

"But-"

"This is not up for discussion." Diego interrupted.

He gasped as he was slammed into the wall. Hard. And left to choke there as Sylvia approached menacingly. "You do not get to talk to me like that in my own palace, Witch. Dillon is my brother. Why should I trust his life to you, when you have given me no certifiable proof?"

"Dillon is family." Diego hissed.

"He is a Fae. He has no relations to a Witch, much less one like you."

"He is a White." Diego snapped. Sylvia paused for a moment, landing softly on her feet. Her eyes were wide, her mouth parted, struggling to form words. But none came out. Diego fell to the ground, and rubbed his head. Eventually, Sylvia regained her composure and fluttered up again.

"That's impossible. You lie. All the Whites were said to have been wiped out after Dhrym and Dhya White was killed. He had no surviving offspring. His daughter and grandchildren were killed. Dillon's not a White. He's part of the Fae monarchy. He is a Reginald."

Granny had tensed at the name 'Dhrym', but no one noticed much.

"Dillon is a _White_." Diego hissed. "I don't care what you think, but he is. I am a White. He's family, and Whites don't leave anyone behind." He approached Sylvia. "So you can help me get my siblings back while I get your brother back, or you'll have innocent blood on your hands. And I know for one that Dillon will never look at you the same way if he does."

Sylvia stopped. This boy knew her too well. She would do anything for Dillon. "What do you want me to do?" She snarled.

"Locate my siblings and get them here safely. I'm going to find Dillon and hopefully get him back here. If he _has_ found Chapulan, we're all dead."

"You better get my brother back." Sylvia warned.

Diego gave her a pale smile. He opened a swirling green portal, and stepped forward.

Granny walked to him, her expression solemn. "You better come back alive, with or without that crazy Fae, or else there'll be all sorts of hell to pay."

Diego managed another shaky smile. "So you _do_ care."

And with that, he turned and sprinted forward, leaping straight into the portal without turning back.

"Why didn't he just do that earlier?" Sid wondered.

Sylvia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Where were you?"

"Witches' land." Granny answered. "All sorts of powers were blocked there. And if you use magic in the Medians' land, you'd only risk attracting unwanted attention to yourself. And he didn't have time to get us all out of the borders of the Fae land before we were captured."

Sylvia nodded. "Now, let's go and find your friends, shall we?"

* * *

Diana blinked as bright light filled her vision. The outside of the room they had been kept in was filled with white fluorescent lights that flickered. That was strange. It was empty. Looking behind her and keeping a tight grip on Mia's hand, she led the group down the long corridor, muscles tense and ready to use her powers at moment's notice.

She kept her footsteps quiet despite wearing high heels. She needed to get out of here and find Di. If something bad happened to him…she didn't know what she was going to do. At the back of her head, her mind reminded her of Derek, and how she couldn't find anything about him. She quickly shook it off. She had to focus on the task at hand.

Diana frowned as she continued making her way down the corridor. Her eyes caught sight of a door at the end of the hallway. Shrugging and deciding that it was the best route, she looked at Mia to confirm once more.

Mia nodded at her, gripping onto Diana's hand tightly. Diana took that positively, and placed her hand on the knob. She opened it, revealing yet another corridor. That was strange. The corridor looked eerily familiar to the one they had just taken. Diana continued on like this for several more corridors before realising why there was no one around.

They couldn't get out - all the corridors were the same, and it was a roundabout. The way to get out of here was to get a portal out of here…but how were they going to do that?

She looked at her siblings. One young Witch, two Elves, one Pixie, three former Seers, two Dæmon-hunters…this wasn't very positive. Her eyes landed on Jessica, the Witch.

"Jessica, I need for you to make a portal and get us out of here."

Jessica frowned, backing away. "Diana, I've never made that sort of thing before. Only Diego can do that."

Diana growled. "Look, Jessica, we're stuck here unless we get a portal out of here. We're in the Other world - the only way to get out is to use magic. They must've thought that you couldn't be of any help, but you have to be. Austin will help you." she nodded at the Pixie.

Austin nodded, looking nervous. "Sure."

As a Pixie, Austin had the ability to enhance or downgrade the ability of another Other worlder.

Jessica took a deep breath. "Okay."

And she closed her eyes and focused, her hands glowing a bright red.

* * *

Stefan had no idea what possessed him to head for the Fae land that one day. Buck had left about a week ago to the Council meeting and hadn't returned yet. Stefan had no idea where Buck was, and was generally concerned for him. There wasn't anyone who could replace Buck.

And since Buck was Dillon's close friend, maybe the Faes would know where the Elf ambassador had left. But why he decided to go that day of all days was surprising, especially considering the amount of work that he had to do. It was as if someone was controlling him, taking ahold of his body and forcing him to go to the Fae land. Stefan was pretty sure that it wasn't the Faes. He had been possessed by a Fae before, and he knew how it felt.

He straightened up, and continued to make his way to the border. The Elves' land barely touched the Fae's land. Stefan found several guards patrolling, and nodded politely at them. The Faes' eyes narrowed at him, and he felt a probing in his mind - gentle, but insistent. He gladly allowed them the information, knowing that they would let him in when they found out his reason.

The Faes nodded in return and continued on their patrol as Stefan conjured up a thick vine and sat on it. Because most of the Fae land was grasslands, it was convenient for Elves to travel to and fro quickly. Stefan enjoyed the wind on his face - until it ended as a bright red portal appeared. He nearly fell off the vine, but kept his balance.

He quickly got into a battle stance in case the people were dangerous.

To his astonishment, twelve children and three adults came stumbling through the portal. One of them looked up at him, clutching at the hand of a young girl. Her eyes widened and she dropped into a hasty bow.

"Lord Stefan!"

Stefan tilted his head. He didn't recognise the woman, and he was fairly certain that she was from the Mortal world. But she was an Elf. Hm. Interesting. "You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"I am Diana, my lord." Diana looked around hesitantly. "Are we…are we in the Fae's land?"

Stefan pursed his lips, and then realised that there was no harm telling them. They didn't seem to want to harm him. And even if they tried to attack him, he could probably take them on. He quickly calculated the odds. One Witch, three Elves, one Pixie, one Median, three that must have been former seers, and two Daæmon-hunters that didn't seem to have any equipment on them. "Yes, we are."

Diana frowned. "Dammit."

"What is it?" Stefan asked. Regardless of whether or not they were rogue, which he didn't know yet, he was concerned at the fact that twelve children were wandering around looking as haggard as the three adults.

Diana looked up. "My siblings and I were captured not too long ago. My brother and his friends were out searching for us. I don't know where he is, and I need to know where he is. The people that kidnapped us are looking to hurt him."

Stefan considered this quickly. All he could sense here was a kindred spirit that cared for her brother. And he was a good judge of character, as he had been told. "Perhaps…perhaps I could lead you to the Fae palace and see if we can get someone to try and locate your brother?"

Diana's eyes brightened. "That would be a lot of help, my lord."

Stefan smiled. "Then by all means," he quickly grew up several vines which folded itself into a solid-looking stood perched on vines. Diana piggybacked the youngest child, and climbed up. Seeing her climb, the others reluctantly followed, looking grew another vine for himself. He got onto it, and then moved both of the plants quickly towards the general direction of the Fae palace.

Many Faes turned to look, staring at the Elf King and the odd bunch that was on the vines, but turned around just at quickly. They were all too familiar with their own monarchs' odd habits to think too much about this.

Stefan slowed down as they were near the palace. The sheer splendour of the palace above never ceased to take his breath away. His own palace, on the contrary, was all made of curling vines that looked beautiful at all seasons. But it contrasted sharply with the metallic and windy Fae palace. The guards halted them and floated down in front of them. Again, Stefan felt the familiar probing in his mind, and allowed it. He had nothing to hide.

He turned, noticing several worried looks from the children. This must be the first time that they had ever experienced a search of the mind from the Fae. The Dæmon-hunters looked weary, but said nothing.

Just at that moment, his eye caught someone leaving, fluttering in the air above them. The Fae had long dark hair that was artfully styled in a messy bun, along with beautiful silk robes and a set of translucent wings he would recognise anywhere. He called out. "Sylvia!" The Fae didn't seem to have heard him, so he called again. "Sylvia!"

Sylvia turned to look down, eyes wide in surprise at the unusual group. Her eyes narrowed, before she beckoned to someone from a ledge, and floated them down carefully. The moment they landed - _an unusual group indeed_, Stefan thought, _to match his own messy group -_ a grey-haired girl sprinted forward and tackled an older lady.

"Mom!"

A man rushed out to follow her. "Melanie." _Hm…her husband._

Melanie smiled at the two of them as Manny quickly got over to hug his mother as well.

Diana frowned when she noticed the group. "Guys, where's Di?"

Shira looked up at her. "Don't know. He went after Dillon in a portal."

"Dillon?" Diana frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Dillon Reginald?"

She got several nods.

"Since when was he on first-name basis with the Prince of the Fae Monarchy?"

"Exactly what I want to know." Sylvia nodded. She noted the resemblance of the lady to the boy that had run out into a portal mere minutes ago. They both had the same light brown hair, same tanned skin and features, but her eyes were a sky blue instead of the startling green she saw in Diego. "Are you his sister?"

"Yes." Diana nodded. Both women looked at each other carefully. Sylvia knew that they both shared a kindred spirit - both had younger brothers, that apparently liked to do reckless things and knew about each other but without their sisters' knowledge.

"He was going after Dillon, who was following up on some leads."

Diana frowned. Now that sounded completely like her brother. If only she knew why he knew the Fae Prince. Stefan was standing at the corner, looking bemused.

"Actually, Sylvia, that was what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yes?" Sylvia asked, turning. Diana wondered if there was some sort of relationship between them. They had good chemistry.

"Buck vanished not too long after the last Council meeting. I was wondering if you or your brother had heard from him?"

"He must be with Dillon." Sylvia groaned. "Speaking of the Council, I don't even know why they would send Dillon and Buck on a lead like that."

"That was because they didn't." Shira said bluntly.

"What?" Both monarchs turned to her, confused.

"The Council is corrupt." Shira stated, ignoring the horrified looks. "Diego and I talked about it. Apparently, they're responsible for Dhrym White, Dhya White and Frederick Mason's death. They covered it up. And now they have something to do with Solomon Chapulan, who I'm guessing was who Diego was talking about before."

"The Council?" Sylvia asked faintly. "What?"

"The Council killed Frederick?" Granny asked, fist tightening in rage.

Shira nodded. "Diego and I went over several past dates, the dates from their mortal files that indicated the day they disappeared and were presumed date, and the dates that the Median of the Council filed publicly. We're not a hundred percent sure yet, but we think the Council had something to do with their disappearance, especially after Di found out that Dhrym and Dhya had been in the Witches' Land when they died."

"What was grandpa doing there?" Sid asked.

Granny looked up. "Frederick had said that he was going out with Dhrym. He promised it was the last one, as they usually got into all sorts of trouble. I thought it would be okay, since Dhrym had told me they were just checking some intel out at some mortal base. In and out. Like they always did. But Frederick didn't come back."

"You filed a missing persons report?" Melanie asked.

"I had to. But I knew that if it concerned the Other world, it was useless."

"Indeed." Stefan acknowledged. "Question is - how did those two die?"

"Dhrym was my grandfather." Diana said. "Dhya was my great-aunt. My grandmother often told me that those two were always against the Council, and often found out lots of scandals the Council tried to hide. I didn't understand it when I was younger, but I do now." Diana's eyes widened. "Yes. I remember now. They must have found something about the Council that the Council didn't want to have found out."

"How do we find out though?" Granny demanded.

"We need to wait for Di. He seems to be the only one who knows what's going on." Diana said. "Where did he say he was going again?"

"He was going to get Dillon." Sylvia said. "Said that Dillon was going to die if he didn't get back. He seemed quite shaken."

"You were right to listen to him." Diana nodded, eyes dark. "The last time he told me someone was going to die…"

"What? What're you talking about?" Ally, another one of her half-siblings, asked.

Diana turned, almost as if just remembering they were there. "We have to get you guys home. You don't tell dad a _word_ of this, understand?"

"But we want to help!"

"Too bad." Diana looked at the two rulers. "Your majesty, would you?"

"Of course." Sylvia nodded. She waved at a passing Fae. "Do you mind leading these twelve to one of the upper portals?"

"Of course, your majesty." The Fae bowed low and then gathered the twelve up despite their protests, leading them inside the palace. "Follow me."

As soon as the twelve disappeared, the rest rounded on Diana. "Continue."

"Diego has always had this sixth sense, where he can always tell someone he's close to when they're going to die. Usually, only when it's a huge event. Like how there were a chain of my family's deaths in a year. It started with my brother and then ended with my mother's. I listened to him and avoided my death." Diana sighed. "It would only work as long as the person believed him and listened."

"How about you come in?" Sylvia asked, startling as she realised they had been standing out in the open for several minutes. "Follow me. We can find some place to sit and we can try to figure out more about this Council business."

* * *

Dillon put a finger to his lips. Buck, who was right behind him, nodded. Dillon concentrated on the minds of the two guards just around the corner, and nodded when he saw them collapse to the ground. Having telepathic abilities really came in handy when you needed to sneak around. He flew towards them - they seemed to have been guarding something.

He was right.

Large heavy bars covered a large dark area, which resembled something like a pit prison, with enough area between the top of the pit and the bars. He peered into the cell, careful not to get caught up in it. Buck followed, cautiously prodding the two unconscious guards with his foot. He shrugged, and moved beside Dillon. Dillon's bright green eyes scanned the area - nothing. They stayed silent for several minutes, the only sound being the two's breathing and the soft hum of Dillon's wings.

"You see anything, Buck?"

The Elf shook his head. "Do you?"

"No." Dillon frowned. This was wrong. He was so certain that Chapulan was here - after tracing his footsteps back left from those that had freed Chapulan from his cell, and he could sense a large amount of magic energy here…how could Chapulan _not_ be here? He closed his eyes, but suddenly heard a "look out!" from Buck, and turned, throwing himself to the ground.

Someone dropped from above him, landing neatly on all fours. Dillon turned, ready to act. His eyes widened as he realised who it was. He quickly waved a hand, sweeping Buck's knife aside from where the Elf had been ready to strike. Buck scowled. "What're you doing, Dillon?!"

"He's a friend." Dillon stated. His frown turned confused. "What's wrong, Diego?"

Diego looked at him, eyes large and haunted, face pale. "I know where Chapulan is."


	22. Швидкий

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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**AN: And here is another very long chapter. Hope it's worth it! Big thanks to jayzie for reviewing!**

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Chapter 21:  
Soto didn't know how or what happened. It started when he decided to go with Coach to visit Ms. Mitford - he just wanted to talk to Diego. He was worried after Shira didn't call him after telling him that Diego had collapsed. It had been nearly a day since she called him - surely Diego didn't stay unconscious that long. So he went along with Coach, reaching there in time for after school, where the juniors were gathered, ready for some sort of rehearsal in the music room.

It didn't escape his notice that the 'herd', as he had taken to calling them, were all absent from the place. He looked everywhere, quickly eliminating most faces. The group shouldn't be too hard to trace - Manny and Ellie's size helped, along with Shira's hair and Diego's eyes. He couldn't find them though. They might have gone to the toilet, but what were the chances of them going to the toilet all at once?

Ms. Mitford noticed them and gave the juniors a break, talking with Coach eagerly. Soto smirked. Seems like both were getting sweet for one another. Soto took the opportunity to interject before they got too into their conversation.

"Ms. Mitford, where're Diego and the others?" Soto slid into the conversation smoothly.

Ms. Mitford turned, face just as puzzled. "That's a good question. They didn't show up to school today, and when we rang their parents, there was no answer."

Soto's heart started beating faster. He knew Diego was a Witch, knew the Medians, knew the Dæmon-hunters. There was no way that something didn't happen to them. Why else would they not pick up the damn phone?! "Are you certain you called the right numbers?"

"Yes." Ms. Mitford nodded. "They were listed there. We also went through the emergency contacts, but there wasn't much, and they either didn't know anything or were out of the country and so couldn't help."

"That's odd." Soto frowned.

"Indeed." Ms. Mitford nodded again.

"And we're not going to do anything?"

"We have called the police, but they said we needed to wait a whole 24 hours to file a missing persons report."

Soto cursed, but smiled at Ms. Mitford and walked away, leaving Coach and Ms. Mitford to talk. He put his hand in his pocket, and found his phone. Of course. The office didn't have the children's phone number. But he had Di's. He took the phone out, ready to dial, when he heard something. He frowned, looking around. No one was near any instruments that could've made that sort of sound.

He frowned and walked over to the one of the windows, opening the top half and closing his eyes. He focused on his magic, sending it scattering among the winds he conjured up, trying to sense what was out there. Another definite rumble. He closed his eyes tighter as he tried to grasp what the thing causing the rumbling was. His eyes opened in alarm. He squinted, trying to identify the shadow that had now appeared and was getting closer. His eyes widened when he realised that the thing was about as big as the houses down the road.

_What the heck is that thing?_

Whatever it was, it wasn't mortal, that he knew for sure. He needed time to sort out what the heck the thing was, how he could stop or delay it from destroying anyone around - if the creature was even hostile. He looked around. There was no one he knew that he could trust about magic. He looked down at his phone. Well, worth a shot.

He dialled Diego's number, praying that he would answer. He kept one eye on the window, growing more and more tense when he noticed the shadow lumbering closer and closer, appearing to be bigger and bigger. It took a while, but Diego finally picked up. "_Hello_?"

_Thank you whatever deities are up there._

"Di, where are you?" Soto hissed.

"_Soto_?" Diego sounded surprised. "_What're you calling me for?_"

"I'm at Valley. I was gonna check up on you after you collapsed and Lopez didn't tell me a thing. It's been over a day already."

Soto heard Diego sigh. Along with some static. He looked at his phone and put it back to his ear when he heard Diego reply. "_Long story. Anyway, I'm at the Other World. Why?_"

That explained the bad reception.

"Because I'm sensing an earthquake that seems to have magic as its cause." Soto squinted again. "And something's approaching here. Something really big - probably not even human. I think it has magic."

Soto heard Diego inhale. "_You're at Valley?_"

"That's what I said."

"_Get the juniors into the music room. Tell Ms. Mitford. She's an Elf_."

Soto frowned at his phone, glancing at the music teacher as he did so. His heart thudded furiously. He knew how to use his powers to an extent, but…holy, everything was falling apart around him. Ms. Mitford was an Elf. This giant thing was approaching, made of magic, and none of the other students here had magic. He did a quick mental count as he replied. "That's new. I couldn't tell."

Diego laughed. "_You hardly notice anything unless it's glaring at you in the face._"

"Shut up." Soto snapped. There was about forty students. Good. He could probably handle that number. He looked out. It was getting dark, the sun slowly dipping down. That didn't make him feel any better. A storm was brewing in the distance. Gods, this was so stereotype. Thunderstorm before something large and dark and scary attacked.

"_Tell Ms. Mitford and get everyone in the music room. Now._"

"We're already in the music room. Why? What's happening? Where're the other Dæmon-hunters? Ms. Mitford said that they didn't pick up the phone."

"_Trust me on this. I'm getting the other Dæmon-hunters there as quickly as I can. As an additional note, just be prepared for anything outrageously crazy._"

"Outrageously crazy like what?"

"…_The Council_?"

"The Council?!" Soto was now full on panicking, though he did his best not to show it on his face. The Council? Something he had only ever heard stories about?! "Di, what the hell is going on?!" How did this guy that he knew, a Witch almost like any other, get himself into these kinds of things? He had befriended Diego even knowing he was a Witch, and now he was cursing himself for it. Great.

"_Shut up and trust me on this. If you want to blame someone, blame my ancestors._"

"What the heck?" Soto glanced at his phone again to make sure he _was_ dialling the right number. "I'm currently cursing you. Di!"

"_Gotta go. Just get everyone in, I don't care how. Just make sure they're not outside the school_."

"What about everyone else outside?" Soto demanded.

"_Don't worry, the mortals can't get harmed. I'm getting help right now, and they're gonna get all the people to go to the basement. Is there anyone else in school?_"

"Not that I know off. Ms. Mitford said that she would have to close up."

"_Thank devil. The school doesn't have a basement. Remember, I've got them settled. Don't worry._"

"You'd better." Soto warned. He hung up. Despite all this that was going on, he knew that Diego could be trusted, and had trusted him ever since the Witch had arrived at Half-Peak. He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face before he rushed over to Ms. Mitford, tugging her away and waving away Coach's protests. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Rudy looked around, glaring. The Fae and Elf ambassadors weren't here. They were his bigger competitors, and he followed the rule: _Keep your friends close but your enemies closer_ very religiously. He looked around at his Council again, wondering what was the cause of this emergency meeting. "How is everything going?"

The Pixie ambassador cleared his throat. He was a short little thing wearing purplish robes with glasses perched on his nose. "Rudy, there's been some changes."

"Changes?" Rudy demanded.

"Chapulan escaped." The Pixie whispered, almost scared to break the news. He backed away slightly. Rudy felt a smidgen of satisfaction though he blanched inwardly. No matter how powerful, it didn't escape anyone's minds that Rudy was not only the most senior of positions, he was also the most powerful as a Sidhe.

Anyways, back at hand. He tried to maintain a confident facade. Chapulan escaped? They had him secure in a pit that nearly rivalled Dante White's. Countless of Other worlders had gone into the magic that encased the pit and were probably currently in pieces. "Explain. Now."

The Pixie shifted anxiously, swallowing. "Someone else was orchestrating Chapulan's escape. Not too long after he was released from White's prison, we did as you ordered and captured him."

Rudy nodded slowly. Yes. Someone had gone through the trouble for the Council to let Chapulan escape. One thing he could not place though was exactly how the other party had managed to keep Chapulan at bay.

"But then someone, we think the being involved with capturing Chapulan in the first place, somehow freed him again. He's currently on his way to the Mortal World." Right. That wasn't good. Because the last location they had Chapulan familiarise himself with was…Valley. Where that wretched White descendant was.

Rudy breathed in deeply, fighting off an impending migraine. "Is there any way to find out how Chapulan escaped? We had our best and most trusted guards there."

"No sir," the Pixie shook his head.

The Sidhe leader leaned back. Chapulan getting out could have disastrous consequences, not just for the Mortal world, but for them. All the political and physical damage that would be done - he couldn't stand it. The Other world would be revealed, and he would have to try and sort everything out. And without Dillon here, he had no guarantee that the Ordinaries would forget about the event, even if they somehow managed to repair all the damage. Besides, no one on the Other world would trust the Council ever again should this get out. "And?"

"He's heading to where we last told him White was." the Pixie finally piped up.

Rudy leaned back in his chair. Gods above…he would need all the help he could get to take care of this. Because if he couldn't handle this just right, countless of people were going to die.

* * *

Sylvia looked up in alarm as Buck swung in through the window. He landed on all fours. He looked quite deranged, with an eyepatch over his right eye and a dagger hanging from his belt. As was custom with Elves, he was quite tall. Stefan frowned. "Buck, how did you get in? More importantly, where were you? And where's Dillon?"

"No time to explain." Buck waved it aside, looking quite frantic at the moment. "Dillon said to get you guys to Valley."

"Why?" Granny demanded, slamming her cup of tea down on the table and grabbing her gun.

"Chapulan's heading there now."

Granny turned an even more pale shade of white. "What?" she whispered hoarsely. "You're serious?"

"More serious than I've ever been, mate."

"Wait, you mean this so called powerful and legendary being that Dante White took out?" Ellie asked.

"Yes." Sylvia flew upward, her feet barely brushing the ground. "He was an enormous thing - a mix of a troll and a giant genes. He had magic, from the Witches and the Weather Spirits like nobody's business, and his mental defence and offence are quite powerful."

"Then how did Dante White defeat him?" Sid asked, tilting his head.

Sylvia sighed. "Dante White was unique. He depended on his magic aptitude as much as he did on his physical, which meant that he was more capable and agile than any others that tried to stop Chapulan. It was amazing. The battle wore on for nearly a week, before White finally gained the upper hand and sealed Chapulan away at the cost of his life. And that was only because Chapulan had already been weakened by so many others."

"What?" Manny asked incredulously. "What is White anyway? A Witch?"

"No, he-"

"Can we please focus on the fact that this thing is heading to Valley?!" Sid shrieked.

"Sid's right. We gotta get back to Valley. And now."

"How are we going to deal with the population?" Ellie asked, getting up as well.

"Dillon's dealing with it." Buck said, looking overwhelmed.

"Alright. Buck, what's going on? What're we going to do?" Stefan asked, eyes piercing.

Buck looked up. "Dillon and Diego just pieced it together. Chapulan's pit was empty. Apparently, a third party was involved that first released Chapulan. The Council intervened and managed to recapture Chapulan, but now Chapulan's escaped. Since Dillon thinks that the Council's goal would be to wipe out Diego first, and Diego was last seen and still suspected to be at Valley, that's where he's headed."

"Dammit." Granny cursed.

"Are you freaking kidding me? They're going through all this trouble just for Diego?" Manny asked.

"Don't underestimate him." Granny warned, checking her gun over. "Diego may be a pain on the ass, but he's still the last direct descendant of White. He's got immense power that you can't believe."

"What about Diana?"

Diana looked up, mouth opened. Granny replied instead. "Diana doesn't count as a White. Whites have green eyes. There's never been an exception. Diana's a Bennett. Not a White."

Diana shrugged indifferently. "Fair enough."

"Wait, don't we have defences for Valley?" Melanie frowned at the Dæmon-hunters.

Granny shook her head. "We are Valley's primary defences."

"You mean Valley's defenceless against Chapulan?" Ellie demanded, eyes wide.

"Not really." Buck frowned. "Diego mentioned something about an Elf and a Soto. Apparently, they'll help hold off Chapulan at Valley, but won't last long."

"Soto's an Other Worlder?" Shira frowned, thinking carefully. The stuck up boy that had been Diego's best friend at Half-Peak. He was quite ordinary…then again, so were they. "Never pegged him down as that sort of guy. And what's he doing at Valley anyway?"

Ellie's eyes lit up with remembrance. "Oh right - you were supposed to call him back when Diego woke up."

Shira buried her face in her hands. "You're kidding me." This guy really was something. Going to Valley just to see Diego? Maybe she underestimated their friendship.

"We can discuss this later." Granny interrupted. She turned to Buck, Sylvia and Stefan, ignoring their questioning looks. "Get us back to Valley now."

* * *

Soto breathed a sigh of relief as everyone crammed into the room. He could feel his heart thudding madly. In just a few minutes, that gargantuan thing would reach Valley Academy, and then they would have to hold Chapulan off until backup came come. "What's going on?" Gutt demanded above the racket. Everyone was looking incredibly annoyed, but there was an atmosphere in the air that cause everyone to feel tension.

Ms. Mitford looked like she was about to faint, but she called for silence. She took a deep breath, crossing her arms and pushing her bangs back behind her ear. Never in all her years had she ever encountered something this deadly. And right now, her powers were one of the only things that would keep Chapulan from destroying her and the others. "Nothing, Gutt. Just please, stay in this room."

The racket suddenly diminished quite entirely.

"Uh, Ms. Mitford-" a student pointed out the window, looking petrified. Her hand was shaking.

Ms. Mitford turned slowly, eyes wide. A large red eye was peering through the ceiling to floor length window. The pupil was easily as large as she was, and she could see all the veins in the eyeball. "Oh, spirits help us."

A large hand smashed through the window, taking a cello out with it. The glass shattered everywhere, causing a few screams as everyone dived for cover. Ms. Mitford raised her hands on instinct, but turned to see Coach pulling her down under her desk. The only one who didn't move was Soto, who was frozen, watching at the eye came again. His hands were out, stance determined.

"What the hell is that thing?" Coach demanded.

Ms. Mitford swallowed nervously. She looked at Soto helplessly. They were defenceless - if they used their magic, they would be breaking law and could be put on trial for treason. "We can't attack."

Soto's hands dropped. He had almost forgotten about that rule and the mortals gathered around them. He snarled with clear rage, back up as Chapulan grabbed a piano and looked at it, backing away by one step.

She ignored Coach's question of what the hell was going on. She couldn't think about Coach right now. She needed to focus on the immediate threat. An unexpected voice spoke up. "Not true." She and Soto turned to Gutt, who looked unnaturally solemn. "Dante White made up a law back then that was never eradicated - should you be attacked by a magic being using magic three times, you are allowed to fight back."

"Magic?" Coach demanded. There were questioning looks from the students, but they didn't say a word in the three-way conversation.

"That thing's not using magic." Soto snapped. He winced as he looked around at the damage. He turned in alarm as the hand reached in again, creating a hole near the window with the weight of his hand.

"It's a thing of magic!" Ms. Mitford realised, everything coming to her at once as she sensed the sheer amount of magic the other creature had. Her knowledge was flooding back into her instinctively. She could feel her magic running faster through her veins, burning to be used. "That means that any attack by it counts as an attack using magic!"

Soto ducked as a hand reached out, continuing to shatter the glass and break the metal beams, barely avoiding hitting him. He swore as a couple of foldable chairs were taken out. "One last one." He murmured. Ms. Mitford held her breath. The red eye appeared once more. She turned, wondering briefly why no one was running out, then realised that they were frozen with fear. That was probably a good thing.

She straightened up. She was a teacher, and by her grandmother's dead spirit was she letting anything happen to her students. She took a deep breath, breathing in deeply. The room was nearly in ruins, with the students scrambling as far back as they can.

Once more the giant hand reached in, grabbing knocking Soto to the ground and grabbing onto a student, who screamed. "Three." Soto muttered. He got up quickly, and held his hands out in front of him. His eyes darkened, and Ms. Mitford heard the sound of thunder. _Storm Spirit._

Lightning crashed through the hand, causing the hand to shake and drop the person. There was a frightening bellow from outside that vibrated around. Soto waved his hand, and a gust of wind safely carried the student back to the classroom. Ms. Mitford looked out down - the music class was on the second floor. There was no way she could get everyone back safely.

"We need to take this outside!" Soto roared to her as wind whipped around. A storm was starting. Whatever it was, Ms. Mitford could care less now. She approached the window, careful not to lose her balance. Her hands were held up in front of her in case Chapulan decided to attack. She dodged as the hand came at her.

Ms. Mitford nodded hastily as Soto drifted down to the ground floor. Determined to not be made into a hopeless victim, she sprinted and leapt down after him, ignoring the cries from her students. Vines grew from the floor, catching her and lifting her down gently.

Chapulan was more terrifying closeup like this. He was _gigantic_, blocking out her view of the sky. She gulped. How the heck did Diego think they could hold him off?! With him leering down at her, he blocked most of the rain. She backed away quickly, grateful when Soto blasted Chapulan with another bolt of lightning to distract the monster.

She dodged another attempt at grabbing something by Chapulan, who ended up with several cars. He crushed them without thought. She closed her eyes and felt the familiar rush of magic as several vines grew out of the ground, wrapping themselves around Chapulan's legs. She tugged, and Chapulan bellowed as he started to fall. But he quickly regained his balance, using one of the houses situated nearby. The roof of the house caved in.

Ms. Mitford wondered briefly why there was no screaming, then realised how empty the streets were. Hopefully it was because of the Dæmon-hunters' defence protocol instead of the fact that Chapulan probably killed them all. Speaking of which, where were the Dæmon-hunters?!

At that moment, another set of vines joined hers, and tugged down.

Ms. Mitford looked up in relief. The Dæmon-hunters were here as if on cue, along with Diego's older sister, who looked to be the one helping her hold Chapulan down. Her eyes were determined and she was soaked, but she held her ground tugging sharply.

Both pulled down hard, but Chapulan seemed determined to keep on his feet, using a house on the other side of the road to keep himself up. He was bellowing as he tried to shake his feet free. Ms. Mitford blanched as she was forced up by a mini earthquake when Chapulan finally ripped up part of the roof and flung it at them. She gasped, eyes wide. It stopped abruptly before hitting her, and flew off harmlessly.

Her eyes widened even more when a third set of vines joined them, followed by a fourth. She turned, barely able to keep herself from gasping out loud when she saw the ruler of the Elves, Lord Stefan, and the Elf ambassador, Buck, trying to help hold Chapulan in place while Soto stuck blow after blow at Chapulan. This was now becoming more and more surreal.

"The Council!" Buck grunted as he continued to pull. Even the strength of all four Elves were nothing compared to the strength Chapulan had.

"I'll handle them." A silvery voice joined in from above. Ms. Mitford looked up in astonishment.

Sylvia Reginald (looking quite dry, Ms. Mitford noticed absentmindedly), ruler of the Fae land, was currently flying in the direction of the Council, a determined look on her face as her wings hummed and the downpour continued.

* * *

"Then what do we do?" Rudy demanded. He slammed his hands on the table.

"We have to stop it!" The Weather spirit hissed. "We can't allow it to just wreck havoc."

"You're just saying that because a storm spirit is there." The shapeshifter rolled his multicoloured eyes.

The Weather spirit looked like he was about to protest, but Rudy put up a hand, annoyed already. "We don't have time to argue. We need to lock Chapulan down and fast before-"

"Stefan and Buck of the Elves and Sylvia of the Faes are currently at Valley." Rudy turned, eyes wide, at the Witch present, who had her eyes closed and was most likely viewing the scene in her head. "They're trying to destroy Chapulan." She snorted. "Fat chance of that happening."

Rudy growled. Great. With the addition of the two powerful leaders, he had no chance but to interfere unless he wanted a rebellion by the Fae and the Elves when their leaders died fighting Chapulan, who was _supposed_ to be imprisoned and watched over by the Council. He stood up, looking around. "We need to get this sorted and quickly. Marina?" He looked at the Median of the Council, who looked up silently. "After we get Chapulan sorted out, I need you to make sure that Stefan, Buck and Sylvia don't say a word about this, especially to Dillon, do you understand?"

Marina nodded. "As you wish."

"Good. Now let's go."

"All of us?" The Pixie asked nervously.

Rudy shot her a cold glare. "The more of us there are, the faster we settle the issue of Chapulan."

The Pixie nodded reluctantly and stood up.

Rudy smiled coldly. "Good."

He looked out, and opened a portal above everyone's heads, drawing them away to Valley.

* * *

"I can't believe you talked me into doing this." Diego muttered.

Dillon shrugged. "I'm told I can be very persuasive." He continued on casually. "And don't breathe in the air. It's toxic." He laughed upon hearing Diego's yelp and moved onwards. "Besides, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

"The Council's intervening. Some of the most powerful Other Worlders in…well, the world. Which happens to include Buck, Stefan and your sister. And Rudy. And the most renowned Dæmon-hunter in the world after her husband. I don't see why we need help." Diego's voice came out muffled, his sleeve against his mouth and nose.

Dillon sighed. "Di, you know as well as I do that they're never gonna get anything done."

"And getting our ancestors is?"

"We need someone to slow them down. Remember, White didn't accomplish taking down Chapulan down himself. He had the others trying to stop Chapulan down first." Dillon said. "We're here."

"Pretty empty here."

"Shut up. Do you want their help or not?"

"You sure they're gonna help?"

"White and Hunt are the only ones I can see disagreeing. But White used his life to capture Chapulan. He's gonna want to put Chapulan back where he belongs before chewing out the ears of the Council, me and Buck hopefully not included. And Hunt will do what White tells him to do."

Diego sighed, crossing his arms. "I still think it's a bad idea."

"Well, I'm not asking for your input."

"Aren't you a guy with the fundamentally kind sort of personality?"

"I'm under a lot of stress right now."

"Aren't we all?"

Dillon frowned, shaking his head and leading Diego onwards.

* * *

Dhya was there, just minding her own business and talking with Dhrym, when two people suddenly appeared out of a mist that came out of nowhere. It was surprisingly nice here, after she and her brother were denied access to the land of the dead with the other spirits. Her first instinct was to ready herself for a fight, but she dropped her stance when she realised who it was.

"What're you doing here?"

Despite them being dead, the Whites (the famous ones, at least) were quite close knit (Dhya faced quite a few problems at first, being the only female there). White kept a close eye on those rejected access from the land of the dead and those still alive. Those two being Dillon Reginald-White from the Faes and Diego Bennett-White, the Witch in the Mortal world, who were currently right in front of them.

"Chapulan's been released. We need to get him back."

Dhrym sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Why am I not surprised?"

The Fae sighed as well. "Where are the others?"

"I'll get them." Dhya offered. She wasn't that surprised, to be honest. Stranger things had happened, and all the Whites knew that. "You guys plan how you're gonna tell White."

"Actually," Diego frowned. "Would you mind going up to help the others first?"

"What others?" Dhya frowned as well.

"Some of my friends, some Elves, Dillon's older sister and some Dæmon-hunters."

Dhya leaned back on her heels. "Does the group happen to include the notorious Gloria that I've heard so much about?"

Dhrym exchanged a look with Diego. "Yep."

"What are we waiting for then?" Dhya's been dying to meet this Gloria, who had apparently tried to slap Dhrym and upon meeting Frederick (Bless his soul. Actually, she didn't know him that well to actually genuinely mean that), had thought he was trying to rob her and judo-flipped him over. "How do I get up?"

Dhrym sighed, waving a hand. His eyes glowed green, and Dhya felt herself scattering into particles. "Good luck and don't get killed before I get there."

Dhya stuck her tongue out at him as she left, because well…that was the only way she knew to respond to her twin brother.


	23. nhanh

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for all the OCs, I wasn't sure that I could use all of the original Ice Age characters. I've looked back on my first few chapters and cringed - I'm gonna rewrite them. And I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I'm thinking about having a sequel. What'd you think?**

**06/08/16: To fan girling, I've made some changes to this chapter, as I don't really know where else to put in their powers. Hope you like :)**

* * *

Chapter 22:  
Now, Stefan was a relatively humble Elf. He tried his best to govern his lands fairly, and prided himself on being quite good at reading others' characters. However, nothing would have prepared him for right now, facing off Chapulan while Sylvia, his temporary ally, dealt with the Council, somehow managing quite well. It was a surprise how Sylvia could keep Rudy down, but maybe the Faes were more formidable than they seemed.

He was currently struggling to hold down Chapulan, tugging it along with his ambassador, the well-known but not exactly famous Diana Bennett, and another fellow Elf. But right there, when it looked like Chapulan was going to escape, a fifth set of vines wrapped themselves around Chapulan's legs, joining the other vines. These vines grew incredibly fast, and suddenly yanked down. Chapulan yelled and fell to the ground at the sudden added force.

Stefan's eyes were drawn to where a fifth person was standing. Stefan felt himself get thrown up from the force of the impact, and hurried to help Sylvia up from where she had fallen. Her clothes were now drenched, but her wings remained dry, and they would as long as they kept on moving. He looked at the rest of the group - they looked rather shaken, but otherwise fine.

A huff came from beside him, and he turned with the others to see someone he thought was dead. He froze in astonishment.

Gods. Above. Help. Him.

* * *

Ellie turned at the huff, eyes wide as her eyes found someone that could've passed off as a female twin of Diego, aside from the fact that she was outrageously tall. She was taller than Manny, for crying out loud!

The person turned to look at them with sharp green eyes that Ellie recognised from Diego. The person had the same sort of blondish-brownish hair, except that it was cut shoulder-length. Ellie looked at the person's figure. Definitely a girl. The person smiled. "Dhya White, pleased to meet you." Hm…she was British as well?

None of them knew what to say, but Diana stepped forward, eyes piercing. "Where's my brother?"

"He's fine." Dhya waved her hand dismissively. She paused. "Well, if he survives telling White that Chapulan escaped, then he'll be fine."

"What?!" Someone, clearly the leader of the Council, demanded. Ellie did a quick head count of the Council. Not including Buck, there was roughly thirty members of the Council. The odds did not look good in their favour, but if Sylvia managed to hold them off for so long, they must not have been as good as the others had made them out.

Dhya pinned him with a glare. "You'd better be ready to face hell. White's not gonna be happy."

Ellie noted the leader turning pale, and wondered what was so scary about this 'White'. She didn't even know how he looked like, despite having his name, well, last name, and his story, getting thrown around the last few hours. She supposed he had to be scary since he took Chapulan down, but there was no time to waste time thinking that.

"He's up." Dhya noted casually. She stood her ground as Chapulan regained his balance, and shot her arms up, straight towards Chapulan. Vines sprouted, shooting straight and directly at Chapulan, who bellowed as they pierced his neck while he was getting up. Dhya leapt up, and, growing a vine in-between her hands, used it to swing herself from Chapulan's left arm. She replaced the vine with her legs, pressing her hands to Chapulan's upper arm. Vines sprouted at the top, and Chapulan bellowed once more, other hand moving to swat Dhya away.

Dhya yelped as she dropped to the ground, growing some moss to soften her landing.

"Do you have a death wish?" Soto demanded. "What the heck were you doing?"

Dhya laughed. "I'm dead, you moron. I'm not afraid of dying again. Now help me or else." She yelped as Rudy suddenly blasted a burst of magic at her, doing a backflip to dodge it. Ellie was astounded at the sheer agility that Dhya displayed, but quickly focused on the fact that Chapulan was now slowly rising once more, the wounds he had healing quickly.

"What the heck are you doing?" Dhya demanded, glaring at Rudy. "You want to die by this guy's hand?"

"You can't destroy him." Rudy hissed, eyes narrowed. Though he sounded confident, his eyes were darting around nervously, as if he didn't. "We need him alive."

"You'd be better off if he was _dead_." Dhya retorted, quickly dropping to one knee and forming a shield of vines around her as Chapulan banged down on the shell again and again. Ellie's eyes widened as she realised someone step forward, eyes gleaming before a wisp of mist left their mouth and headed towards Dhya.

Granny reacted faster, though. She clamped a metal bracelet on the person's arm, watching with satisfaction as the person choked, looking up in fury at Granny. Then the person says something she shouldn't have said. "Pity. We should've killed you with Frederick."

Granny's eyes positively bore a hold through that person's head. She raised her gun, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. She fired twice in quick succession at the person, but someone else came up, waving a hand and deflecting the two bullets to the side, where Sylvia quickly made them drop from midair.

Uh oh.

The second person in front of the first waved his hand again, and Granny went flying to the side. Ellie's eyes widened as she saw Shira's eyes glow silver as she waved her hand in Granny's direction. Ellie shivered as she felt…something…not quite solid rush forward in a strong gust of wind. Granny yelped as something silvery and human-looking appeared, blocking her fall. The silvery…thing…disappeared, and Shira's eyes returned to their normal blue.

Ellie then turned to the other person again, whose eyes were glowing - much like Diego, her mind supplied. Shoot - was that person a Witch as well?

Ellie scowled. She and the other children (with the glaring exception of Shira and Diego) were completely helpless in this case - they had received no training or education that would prepare them for this sort of situation. And they had no equipment with them either.

"Manny?" Elena whispered to her son. "I want you to get the other children and go to our house. You'll be safe there."

"What? No." Manny shook his head.

"Yes, Manfred." Elena nodded firmly. She handed him a metallic bracelet. "You'll only get in the way here and we'll be too worried to actually concentrate. Take Soto and Shira as well - they can protect you if things go south here."

Knowing Elena was right, Ellie nudged Manny. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

Quickly, Manny led the rest of the group away. Soto followed, frowning at this, but he covered their backs while Shira's parents quickly distracted Chapulan. However, they forgot the Council's intervention. Five of the members of the Council blocked them. Shira quickly stepped forward, eyes narrowed and glowing silver, ready to react.

Soto did so first. He gathered storm clouds up ahead, and with a sudden dropping movement of his clenched fist, a bolt of lightning struck where the five had been standing. Smoke started surrounding the five members, providing the children with much needed cover. Ellie stood, awestruck, at this display of power. Despite knowing that magic users were generally very powerful, it never failed to impress her whenever she saw someone use magic. Shira quickly tugged her and Manny away.

"Let's go!"

Another figure appeared in front of them, eyes narrowed, and Ellie shivered again as she felt shadows closing in on them. Shira snarled, her eyes still gleaming silver. Wisps of silver appeared within the darkness, solidly wrapping themselves around the figure, who growled and struggled to get free as the shadows grew darker.

Ellie took an involuntary step back as the shadows started reaching for her. They tugged her arm, but she shrugged it off with an indignant yelp. Shira's eyes glowed even brighter as she beckoned an arm towards the figure. The figure let out a scream as their eyes bulged out and their mouth dropped open. From his arms, his legs, his mouth, his eyes, wisps of silver curled out and around Shira's hand.

Shira curled her fist and the man let out a bloodcurdling shriek before dropping to the ground. The shadows abruptly dropped away to reveal that the cloud of smoke was still clearing away. The silvery wisps dropped to the ground, assembling together to form an ethereal form of the figure that Ellie still couldn't see clearly.

_Was he dead?_

"C'mon!" Shira tugged on their hands and led them away.

Turning back, Ellie saw that Soto had gotten ahold of the twins. His eyes were gleaming green and small but strong gusts of winds that resembled hurricanes whirled around him. The twins looked relatively safe from harm, but any debris that came close was immediately flung away. Ellie heaved a sigh of relief, but then quickly realised someone was missing. "Sid!"

Sid was sprinting towards them, yelling his head off.

"No, Sid!" Shira called out, but Sid didn't hear her. Shira's eyes were already glowing silver as she turned to her friend.

Sid sprinted right in the direction of the now four Council members, where the smoke was already beginning to clear. Without hesitation, the Witch that Ellie recognised earlier thrust a hand out at Sid, sending him sprawling to the ground. The Witch's hand glowed a dark purple, and then he fired it towards Sid. Sid screamed and put his hands over his head. Soto turned to help, only to let out a cry as fire whirled around him, blocking off his path.

Granny also noticed. "Sid!"

Ellie turned back, seeing Dhya leap around, trying to avoid being caught by the Council while at the same time trying to get more blows on Chapulan. Sylvia and Stefan was preoccupied with the Council. Buck and the others were helping stop Chapulan, and wouldn't be able to get to Sid in time. She turned to Sid, eyes wide with horror as the magic hit. Smoke billowed out.

The smoke quickly cleared, and it became evident that Sid was surrounded by a glowing green shield. The first thought that Ellie had was Diego, but the shade of green was much much darker than the shade of green she had seen Diego use before. Ellie's eyes were drawn to Sid's necklace, and her eyes widened as a stone of some sort glowed, fading away to its normal dull colour.

"Sid, run!" Granny yelled at him.

Sid instantly got up and sprinted to the others. A downpour was already stamping out the fire that surrounded Soto. The hurricanes once again started around him, before he struck down another lightning bolt in order to grab onto the twins once more and, making sure that Sid was following them, sprinted all the way to Manny's house. Manny thanked his lucky stars that Diana had sent her half-siblings away. But right outside the gate, Soto stopped, looking helpless.

"You have a shield!"

"What do we do?" Ellie asked desperately.

Shira quickly took the metallic bracelet that was still in Manny's hand and flung it to Soto, who caught it and clamped it down over his wrist before he sprinted to the door. Manny fumbled with the keys for a second, but got the door open and everyone in before the door slammed shut.

And just in time as well. Magic bursts came from where they had just been. Ellie peered out the window. They seemed to be safe - the Council members seemed unable to get through. Hopefully they didn't attempt to put on the same bracelet. If they did, Ellie wasn't sure their group could take the Council members in a physical fight. Soto and Manny? Maybe. Shira? An even bigger maybe.

"What'd we do now?" Eddie asked after they got their breath back.

"We wait." Soto said, plopping down onto the floor. "There's nothing we can do now." he looked at the window. "Unless the Council members get in. Then we're gonna have a real problem."

"What about our parents?" Ellie asked.

"They'd better win." Soto said.

"And if they don't?"

Soto pinned her down with his gaze. "Pray that they do, or we're dead. Now," he leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Where's Diego?"

* * *

Dhrym was not looking forward to this. Long years of serving as White's second-in-command had taught him that White was prone to rages, especially when things didn't go his way. It wasn't as if White would blow a fuse if something went a tiny bit out of the plan - White only became dangerous when things went the complete opposite of what it was supposed to do, and a bus stop away. Other than that, anything else he could handle.

But Dhrym knew that White had an issue with three things in particular. One, his direct family - his father, his mother, his sister, etc. Two, the Other world Council. Three, Solomon Chapulan.

And since this virtually combined the latter two, Dhrym was preparing himself for, at the very most, a temper that could rival a 5-year-old child when he didn't get his favourite toy. Except that the child happened to be over four hundred years old and had magic that could possibly kill anyone else in the room.

After much debating, it had been decided that Diego and Dhrym would go, while the others would head up to try and weaken Chapulan. Dhrym because he would be able to protect himself should the need arise. Diego because he was White's last remaining direct descendant, and White wouldn't be so foolish to kill Diego.

Hopefully.

They entered the stark white room.

Dante White was outlining something on the wall with his finger. He didn't turn when the two approached, but Dhrym knew that White had heard them. He eyed White's blade, carefully hidden within White's coat. He walked forward with Diego, stopping his grandson when they were close enough to be considered polite, but far away enough that they would have enough time to react should White try anything.

"What is it, Dhrym?" White's voice came, barely a murmur.

"Diego's here too." Dhrym decided to start. At least White would know not to try anything, since although Dhrym was already dead, Diego wasn't.

White turned towards them. Technically, White was shorter than Dhrym, which would seem odd regarding to why Dhrym was scared of White. But White had a presence that just made him seem infinitely taller than anyone he was next to. Somehow, White had gained the ability to look down on anyone regardless of how tall they were.

"Hello, Diego."

"White." Diego nodded.

"Diego has news from the Other world and the Mortal world." Dhrym got to the point.

"Hm?"

Diego swallowed. "Starting a few months back. One of my classmates was killed and I was framed. I caught a shapeshifter, which is why I think there is a third party involved."

"In what?"

"A few days ago, we were attacked. We don't know by whom yet. But the Council was involved somehow."

"Aren't they always?" White's voice was lazy, almost uninterested and monotone. But Dhrym knew that while White wouldn't show any sort of emotion in either his speech or his expression, you could always count on his eyes.

Diego took a deep breath, and turned to Dhrym, who nodded, muscles tense. "But that's not the worst bit."

Silence.

"The third party managed to release Solomon Chapulan. We think that the Council wanted that to happen, as right after Chapulan was released, the Council got ahold of him. But the third party released Chapulan from the Council and now Chapulan is attacking Valley, where my friends and family are. And we need your help to stop him."

There was a whole second of silence, which Dhrym took to start forming a shield around them.

* * *

Sylvia looked around. Things were looking particularly grim. She could only help hold off the Council for how long, and that was not including her trying to avoid getting hit by Chapulan's stray magic flying around, be it fireballs or bursts of magic. Stefan was helping, but it was hard for them and the Dæmon-hunters to hold of twenty-five members of the Council.

Suddenly, she heard something resembling a bang, and shot up, looking around in panic.

Four people dropped down from the sky, one of them fluttering upwards and catching another. The third one got to the fourth one, and disappeared with another loud bang, before reappearing on the ground. She looked, her heart sighing in relief.

"Dillon!"

Her brother looked up, eyes lighting up as he saw her. He quickly dived down, dropping the other person on his feet before joining her in the air, hugging her tightly. "What's wrong?"

"The Council is trying to get us to stop destroying Chapulan." Sylvia couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth.

"What? Why?" Dillon asked, looking overwhelmed.

Dhya joined in the conversation, leaping up at the moment. "No idea. Where's Dhrym?"

Dillon winced. "He's with Diego, telling White about the current situation."

"Oh…" Dhya winced as well. Sylvia got the impression that this was going to be very very bad.

Dillon turned his attention to the ground. "Where are Diego's friends?"

"Oh, they've been sent to one of the Dæmon-hunter's house to stay out of the way."

"Alright." Dillon nodded. He turned to where the person who apparently had powers of teleportation was. "Hunt!"

The Siren looked up, looking like he could care less.

"Find where Diego's friends and siblings are, and stay there. Get them out if things go wrong."

Hunt nodded, and disappeared with another loud bang.


	24. גיך

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: So excited! Last chapter, and then the epilogue. I'm actually quite tempted to leave it there, but there's a chance that I might write another one (?).  
**

**Big thanks to fan girling for reviewing! Included a small scene with Shira and Soto's powers in the previous chapter, and hints of what Manny and the others could possibly do in the future as Dæmon-hunters! **

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Chapter 23:  
Hunt sighed as he transported her again. The house was empty. Next house. Empty. Hunt groaned - how many houses can this neighbourhood have? He looked around, and noticed a light coming from the outside of one house, and immediately transported close by. He held his breath upon seeing some people, some on the floor and some upright, trying to get into the house. All in all, there was about thirteen there. Lucky number thirteen.

That must be it.

The Siren closed his hand, opening it to reveal a thin metal cord. He smiled viciously as he transported over to the bulkiest-looking man, landing on the man's shoulders and wrapping the cord around his neck while pulling hard. The man choked as blood spilled from his neck until he fell. Hunt wasted no time in transporting to the next man and doing the same, transporting himself and the man to another shorter figure (Pixie, his mind supplied) and knocked both of them out.

Three down, one to go.

He smirked at the remaining woman, who scowled at him. His eye caught the glint of her necklace. _Ah…members of the Council._ He transported and knocked her out quickly. Hunt shook his head in disgust as he walked to the door, unapologetically stepping on the other figures to get to the door. He knocked and waited.

He heard the curtain chink and turned towards it, shaking his head once more as the curtain closed. Sighing, Hunt teleported into the house, facing several children. Well. This was interesting. They stared up at him, some in admiration and others in fear. He suspected the reason they weren't attacking him yet was because he shared the same eyes with Diego. What idiots. For all they knew, he could be using a disguise. "Hello kiddies." he grinned tauntingly.

"Who are you?" a blocky teenager asked, eyes narrowed, startled. He backed away, eyes narrowed as his hand grasped for a weapon that was not there. He resembled one of the Dæmon-hunters, the fat one, so he must be one of their children. Hunt raised an eyebrow at that - seems like the boy was starting to get the instincts of a dæmon-hunter…if only he had already kept a weapon in the pocket dimension.

"Hunt White. Nice to meet you."

* * *

Granny had seen a lot in her lifetime. She had seen her family abandon her grandson, coped with the news that her husband was dead after going with that crazy Sidhe to the Witches' Land. But nothing would've prepared her for this - the Council, Chapulan and her allies fighting each other in a three-way battle. With the deceased and famous Whites participating.

There was no sign of Dhrym White, but his twin sister was there and being the most offensive force than the others, who were working on defending those that were weaker (mainly the other Dæmon-hunters). Granny cracked her neck from side to side, ducking a blow from Chapulan and landing neatly on the cracked ground. She prayed that Sid was still alive and well, because she wouldn't be able to cope if he died as well.

The Siren had disappeared to find them, but that didn't reassure Granny. Sirens were known for doing almost nothing except for messing with the emotions of others, be they mortals or Other worlders. And this particular Siren had caused so much trouble that he was almost personally responsible for the start of the Dæmon-hunters. So you couldn't blame her for being nervous.

About half of the Council was unaccounted for, now that she did a head count. That meant that they must've gone after the children. She wasn't very religious, but now she prayed with everything she got that the Siren had somehow stopped the Council members or something. Or that the Storm spirit and the Median did something.

Then, without warning, there was a large surge of power that left all of them on the floor, eyes wide and hearts beating frantically as the earth shook. Even Chapulan looked overwhelmed briefly. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Rudy was the first to break the silence. "What the _Hell_ was that?"

Dhya exhaled deeply. "That was White finding out that Chapulan was released."

At the sound of White's name, Chapulan bellowed in anger, and began attacking more furiously.

Granny took a deep breath, drawing her hand deep into her pocket dimension and grabbing around for her gun. The cold metal comforted her as she pulled it out of the pocket, reappearing in her hand. Now they had a furious magic-wielding 25th Head of the Other Council to worry about.

Oh Lord, help her.

* * *

Soto carefully examined Hunt. Hunt looked, in all appearances, the typical White. A shock of dark hair on his head, pale skin and frigid green eyes that resembled Diego's. Except that Diego didn't always look like he was going to kill someone.

After explaining several things, Hunt had told them of what was happening now. Apparently, the Whites were now getting involved, and White would be too. (_No, he hasn't found out yet, I just know, and I make no promises Diego will come back alive_). Hunt was a Siren, Soto noted absent-mindedly. Which was scary. Sirens were known to not care about anyone but themselves. The Dæmon-hunters were looking worried at Hunt.

And then came a surge of energy that made the house lights flicker for a moment, made the ground tremble briefly and made all of them falling to ground trying to catch their breath with their beating hearts, breathing heavily at the shock.

"What was that?" Manny asked.

Hunt looked up, smirk on his face. "That was White finding out that Chapulan was released."

Oh spirits help them.

* * *

Dhrym opened an eye cautiously. The green shield that combined his and Diego's magic was currently opaque, and he was scared to let it down until he was 1001% sure that White was not going to blow another fuse. He slowly lowered his shield, leaving Diego's one still up and now translucent.

White looked absolutely furious. Despite only being 5 foot 5, White was now incredibly scary to look at, his green eyes narrowed and his jaw clenching so hard that Dhrym was worried it would snap. "Bring me. _Now_."

Oh ancestors help him. If only it weren't for the fact that his ancestor was the one about to kill him.

* * *

Rudy knew he would be in a ton of trouble the instant White appeared, and he was right. Shortly after the surge, White appeared and he looked downright _furious_. It was petrifying considering that nearly 95% of the time, White's expression was painfully blank and impassive to any change or disaster around him. And that was scary. His blade was glinting dangerously at the side.

He took a deep breath as White's gaze pinned him down. "We are going to have a little talk after this."

The fact that White seemed so certain that he could take care of Chapulan was worrying. He probably could though. With his own power combined with that of his seven descendants, it was probably enough to take Chapulan out.

"You can't kill him."

"I didn't ask for your input." White snapped. He drew his blade - the same blade that had imprisoned Chapulan, while a dagger appeared in his other. He charged forward, having an almost animalistic fury about him as he leaped up with the help of magic and stabbed Chapulan in the eye, making the giant roar in agony. White was merciless as he continued his assault, fire and ice dancing around him while storm clouds gathered ahead, slowly picking up pace as snow drifted down, growing heavier by the second. Winds picked up and a blizzard started to form.

Chapulan was similarly on fire, magic sparking the air around him as he launched attack after attack on the much smaller White. It seemed Chapulan recognised White and now was determined to end him. Wind whipped around him, causing the snow to block his sight as he continued to try and hit White.

On occasion, one of the other Whites interfered to land a heavy blow on Chapulan before stepping back to continue stopping the Council members attempting to interfere and stop White from defeating Chapulan. None of them were holding back. The Council members were determined to see this through to the end, and the Whites' unwavering loyalty to their ancestor was keeping them in the battle. The Dæmon-hunters remained silent as they watched what was happening - it was practically witnessing history once more.

Eventually, when Chapulan was missing chunks from his body and lost his right arm, White roared out. "_HUNT_!" Diego and Dhrym's eyes glowed green as they fired a blast in Chapulan's face, snapping his head back as he stumbled.

Said Siren appeared, and with little hesitation, teleported the giant with an almost inaudible bang amidst the thunder. White disappeared shortly after, the blizzard ending abruptly.

Pieces that were swirling with the blizzard dropped to the ground. The small fights ended. Snow carefully drifted to the ground, slowly turning into a light drizzle as the clouds cleared and revealed the night sky.

In the silence that followed, the children sprinted out of the house, not even bothering to sneak up as they reached the battlefield. Shira hugged Diego tightly, who returned the hug, trembling.

There was a quiet moment as everyone relished the silence, realising that with this, with White and Hunt disappearing with Chapulan, the battle was over. That was it. Rudy stood there, fists clenched. He shook off the snow as he contemplated what just happened. One of his family's greatest rivals defeated Chapulan, ruining years worth of work. And this would probably leak, causing his reputation to tarnish.

He had no more if he was kicked off the Council and banished.

He looked up. Shira and Diego were still standing there, Diego still trembling. Rudy's face hardened as his eyes narrowed. And then, he fired. Diego looked up, eyes glowing dangerously as a green shield enveloped them. There was a collective roar of rage from the Whites, who immediately gathered around, but the Council members, that were miraculously still standing, delayed them from reaching either Rudy or the pair.

Shira's eyes glowed silver and the air around her and Diego started to whir, turning misty as she called on the dead spirits from the cemetery to try and protect them. But they were only mortal and she didn't have enough practice to make them solid enough to actually have any shielding effect, especially against a Sidhe. She tried though, sweat beading up as she called on spirit upon spirit.

Rudy effortlessly strengthened the blast, the shield starting to crack under the pressure. Keeping one hand firing magic, he used his other hand to blast another part of the shield. Diego was now glaring furiously at Rudy while he covered Shira with his body. But he couldn't keep it up for long. The last blast he had used with Dhrym had drained him. He needed a second to recollect himself and strengthen his shield. Rudy knew that too.

Manny tried to tackle one of the Council member, only to be knocked back by a blast that he instinctively knew should've killed him but only sent him harmlessly soaring back. He really wanted a weapon now. His eyes narrowed at the weapons his parents had - where had they even gotten them?!

Dhya backflipped and punched the Council member, instantly forming a shield of vines around herself as the Council member retaliated. Dhrym hurried to help her, only to get knocked down by a blur. He growled as another White joined him in trying to capture the Council's Siren.

The Weather spirit had been smart, grabbing Stefan and holding him hostage. With him like that, neither Sylvia or Buck would dare to try doing anything. The other Council members attacked, quickly gaining the upper hand due to their experience in magic and the element of surprise. More Council members poured from the direction of the house, signalling that they had already gotten over being attacked. Two of them looked particularly angry, red staining their necks.

Ignoring the other small battles popping up around him, Rudy's attack only grew stronger, his expression growing more deranged. The reality was finally crashing down on him, his mind processing what it couldn't mere seconds ago. His plan had failed. Chapulan was now recaptured, and everyone knew about his plan. The Whites were interfering once more, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't attack Dillon - Dillon was far more superior in that he could attack Rudy mentally or anticipate such an attack. But the youngest of the Whites was left vulnerable.

And he took that chance.

If Diego moved, his shield would crack for certain, but if he didn't, he and Shira would surely be killed. Even if Diego could get out, he couldn't get Shira out as well. Besides, he couldn't win in a one-to-one battle - Rudy was the older and more powerful one. He was a Sidhe and the Head of the Council. Even if Diego used his powers, which were already exhausted in trying to keep him upright from the blizzard just now, he lacked experience.

There was nothing Diego could do. He couldn't have foreseen this. He noticed Diana out of the corner of his eye, trying to defend his friends from the wrath of five of the Council members. She was shooting vegetation at them and using it to shield himself, but it was clear she was tiring. He was going to die. If he tried anything, he might survive, but Shira definitely wouldn't. Diana couldn't do anything. And it would be like Benito all over again. He knew but he couldn't do anything. And he was useless, helpless _helpless HELPLESS_

Diana looked up in alarm at Diego's expression and knew, just knew instinctively from the other time when Benito had been in the car accident that Diego was going into a meltdown, was under pressure and was going to blow.

"Diego-" And she was too late in noticing it. Again. Like how she was too late to stop Benito from crashing.

"_NO_!" Everyone turned, Rudy looking stunned as Diego's eyes glowed a startling shade of green, a snarl on his face. His magic exploded around him, throwing Rudy back, where Marina caught him and helped him up. Diego stood up and approached Rudy, Shira all but forgotten. His eyes were still burning, not faltering in the slightest.

"Di!" Dhrym and Dhya sprinted in his direction, Dhya quickly pulling Shira to her feet and away from Diego. Dhrym, on the other hand, was attempting to block Diego from attacking Rudy, who now found himself on the defensive, wincing as blast after blast attacked him. Dhrym tried to reach out to Diego, but he was flung back and collided with a wall. His magic shielded him from the worst of the blow, shattering the wall. He groaned as he tried to get up. Diego's face was blank now that he had the upper hand, and he was merciless as he attacked.

Dhrym quickly fired a bolt at Diego, who waved it away as if it was nothing, barely conscious of the action.

Debris whirled around them, Diego still not snapping out of it. Storm clouds that had previous vanished returned anew, earthquakes shaking the ground. Diana had always feared her brother and his reaction after having had a taste of Diego's immense magic when he was six, but now this was different. Diego was now sixteen years old, and his magic capacity hasn't shrunk - rather, it had grown.

And now? Diana couldn't help but watch helplessly as Dhrym and Dhya attempted to get Diego back to reality while defending Rudy, the others trying to hold everything in place.

In that moment, White appeared with Hunt.

White wasted no time in sprinting up to Diego, his own magic surging forward to defend him from Diego's attacks as he tackled Diego, their magic creating a beautiful but deadly dance around them as White wrestled with Diego, who attacked him blindly, unaware of what was happening. The storm around them increased, until the wind was whipping around them and they couldn't move.

And then everything died down, and Diana finally got her first look at Diego again. He was kneeling on the floor, shaking visibly, while White murmured to him in a low voice, crouching to Diego's height. After White seemed certain that Diego wouldn't explode again, he stood up and pinned Rudy with a frankly terrifying glare.

Diana wanted to laugh. Rudy was nearly 6 feet tall, while White was merely 5 foot 5. Yet Rudy seemed petrified of the shorter man. But she didn't laugh, because she was just as petrified.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, White had reached Rudy and vanished with him, leaving only a wisp of green magic behind. Dhya was walking over to Granny, talking to her in a low voice while her twin brother let his magic flow around them, fixing the street. Dillon hovered to the hole in the second floor of the school, which had fallen silent. He peered in, eyes flashing green before he flew back down to the ground. He smiled at the group, while the others vanished quickly in a flash of green light.

It was abrupt, Diana noted. Now that they had accomplished what they came to do, they were gone.

Dhrym finished and turned to the Council members. "Go back." Her glare was strong and would've killed them ten times over if looks could kill. She crossed her arms, eyes glinting green in warning.

Marina raised a brow. "What about-"

"We'll handle it." Dhrym interrupted. "Now leave before we make you."

The Council members left rather quickly after that, disappearing either in their own way or with someone else that could.

"My half-siblings." Diana suddenly realised.

"Will they-?" Granny asked quietly.

Dillon nodded. "Nothing today will be remembered."

"Quite a sudden ending." Granny said softly. It was the first time she had ever spoken in that tone.

Dillon smiled. "Isn't it for the better? A long drawn out one will only cause trouble." He looked at the houses and the students, who slowly floated back to their homes, eyes closed. "They won't remember anything." He flew up, looking at his sister and his friends. "Let's go." He looked at Diego, who had stood up and looked pale. "I'll see you around, Di."

Diego nodded. His eyes were large in his face, like a spooked kitten. Shira was beside her mother and father, and had made no move to approach Diego yet.

And the Faes and Elves disappeared, either by flying up and disappearing or going under, covered by vines which left no trace of their existence. The street was almost fully mended by now.

"Now just us." Dhya noted.

"Gloria, can I speak with you?" Dhrym asked, perhaps a bit cautiously.

Granny nodded, moving over to talk with him. While her hatred wasn't completely diminished, the fact that Dhrym had little to do with the death of her husband helped recede it a bit.

"What now?" Manny asked, looking at Diego with something akin to weariness.

Diego didn't seem to notice though. Dhya answered. "Just get on with your lives. Don't you have school?"

"I was expelled." Diego said blankly.

"I'll get you back in." Diana reassured him.

Dhrym and Granny returned, both looking rather relieved. "C'mon, Dhya. We should leave."

"But I hardly talked to Gloria!"

"You can talk with her another time."

"How long will that be?!"

"Bye." Dhrym said pointedly, disappearing with a protesting Dhya.

"What'd you guys talk about?" Sid asked Granny.

Granny shook her head. "Just a few things about Frederick." She looked at Sid, eyes falling to the coin that was still visible around Sid's neck, the one that had saved him from certain death. "And you."

"What about me?" Sid asked, oblivious.

Granny cracked a smile. "Nothing you need to be worried about. Now let's go home."

Hunt reappeared, scaring them. "Sorry, Dorian wanted to leave a message." At the questioning look, he sighed, rolling his eyes. "The Seer."

"I thought Seers were only young?" Ellie frowned.

"Don't care. Anyways," he looked at Diana. "He said, and I quote: 'You might want to get the next call on your cell. It's for you and Diego.'"

Diana looked puzzled, but nodded. Hunt smirked and vanished once more.

As if on cue, Diana's phone rang. She opened it, half surprised that it hadn't been destroyed yet, and put it on speaker. "Hello?" she asked tiredly. God, she needed sleep.

"_Hello? Diana_?" the voice was unfamiliar, yet Diana found that she knew it somehow. Where did she know that voice from?

"Who is this?"

"_Diana? Don't you remember me?_"

"Oh gods." Diego whispered. He was hunched over now, eyes wide as he timidly approached the phone, eyes full of shock.

The person on the other end heard it. "_Diego? Is that you?_"

"Who are you?" Diana demanded, not replying the question.

"_Don't you remember me?_" the voice asked again.

Diana looked up at Diego. She didn't. Diego did though. "No."

"_Diana_?"

"Who. Are. You?" Diana repeated.

"_It's me, Diana. It's your mother_."


	25. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

* * *

**AN: And here's the epilogue!**

* * *

Epilogue:  
Diana looked up at her board. She had been working endlessly for the last few days, Diego staying at her place. She had delayed getting him back to school, knowing he wouldn't concentrate until they had solved everything.

Neither Mia nor Beth had any idea about anything. Neither did Dillon, who seemed to be hiding some secret. Diana had a feeling that Diego knew about it, but her brother wasn't talking. Something had happened before her "mother" had called, and she didn't know what it was.

"Diana?" Diego peeked in. "There's some lawyer on the phone wanting to discuss something about some case with you."

"Got it." Diana said quietly as she stood up.

Diego waited until she exited before walking into the room and looking at the numerous paper clippings and all the pictures and files on the wall. He looked back out the door. Diana was at risk if she tried to pursue this further. He could - he had Dillon's help in this. He and Dillon had already arranged it anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Diego's eyes flashed and everything on the wall vanished in a swirl of green light.

He walked out the door.

Diana looked up. "Hi, Diego. Ready to go back to school?"

Diego forced a smile on, noticing the glazed look in her eye. Good. It worked. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"I've given you everything you could possibly need."

"I'm sorry, master." The creature cringed. "I-"

"Enough." The obvious master bellowed. "We have to use this opportunity."

"Opportunity?"

"Yes. The Council is in ruins, no one can clearly remember what happened. Rudy is currently missing, with White. It has been proven that Chapulan can be freed and held. This feud of theirs can finally be of some use to me."

"What do you want to do?"

"Get Diego Dante White."

"Master, it's impossible. We don't even _need_ him."

"You fool!" He roared. "Did you not see the sheer amount of magic he released? If we can get that power, or control him to use that power…we can actually accomplish something."

"White stopped him."

"Yes. But what White doesn't know won't hurt him. We need to focus on getting Diego. He's the only one capable of taking White on."

"How do you plan to do this?"

"We…need to use some of his allies. Not the Whites, they're too powerful to be contained. We need to get his mortal friends."

"Mortal friends, my lord?"

"Yes." The figure glared at the creature. "What are you still doing here?!"

The creature gasped and scurried away. The creature peeked around when his master had turned away. His master had the oddest of request. Why he was so obsessed with the boy was beyond him.**  
**


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